


The Most Lamentable Comedy of the Cool Patrol and the Gator Skaters

by RubberSoles19



Category: Cool Patrol - Ninja Sex Party (Song), Ninja Sex Party - Fandom
Genre: Cool Patrol au, F/M, Gen, LOTS of headcanon backstory, Magic, also avi is in this, and danny falls in love with Kristin from 6969, depression triggers, romeo and juliet - Freeform, some headcanon backstory, there's no sex tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-09-26 05:07:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 34,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9864185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubberSoles19/pseuds/RubberSoles19
Summary: There’s a new gang that wants the Moonlight Rollerway, and that’s the Gator Skaters. They want to ban dancing, music, and especially leather and ninjas, in light of a more "family friendly, all ages welcome" mentality. Danny Sexbang and the Cool Patrol, including their little gremlin, Kid, must fend off the gang, conquering fear, groovy dance numbers, and cheated heart strings. But when Danny’s Star of David, the apparent source of all his other-worldly powers, is destroyed, Danny loses everything he thought he was, and the Cool Patrol must learn, that despite everything, friendship is what really counts.Just kidding, it’s dance.





	1. A Challenger Approaches

**Author's Note:**

> There is a painful void on the internet where the Cool Patrol AU should be, so I've decided to do my part to fill it! The characters in this might seem a little OOC, but I promise there's a reason, and if this fic does well, I'll upload the rest of the series, which will help explain everything. I have also taken a substantial amount of liberties in coming up with Danny and Brian's backstory, which I hope you enjoy. The only OC in this fic is Kristin, who is the girl from 6969.
> 
> That's everything I've got at this point. Please sit back and enjoy!
> 
> (Cover art is on my tumblr: rubbersoles19.tumblr.com)

Kid didn’t remember much about the musical hallucination he had had that night at the Moonlight Rollerway. He wasn’t sure if it was real or not, but he did know that he was unconscious at some point. The feeling of being pulled from quiet numbness by the salty scent of anchovies was hard to get out of his head. So was that song, as a matter of fact, and the way the curly haired man had taken the corners of his face in both hands and had said, “It was all real,” big brown eyes full of earnest.

He didn’t remember how he got home that night, or much else of what happened after that. The big, sweaty bullies that started following him around didn’t mention the event either, though the boy was sure that the first time he had seen them was at the Moonlight that night. He didn’t remember how uncomfortable the bruise that clung to his temple like a tumor had proven, or if his mother ever commented on what happened.

He didn’t even remember when he first discovered his super-powers, but was sure that his ability to punch a hole in a solid wall was one of the reasons he finally decided to return to the Moonlight almost a week later.

That was months ago. Two? Three? He wasn’t sure. He did know that he found a kind of stress relief every night at the Moonlight, which is where he had begun to spend most every evening. At least the bullies were a bit more reluctant to beat him up while he ate pizza with a ninja sitting next to him.

Kid looked around at the group of leather bound adults around him. Befriending a group of adult men didn’t exactly come naturally to him. And he certainly didn’t fit in with the tough-guy-musical-dancing-gang either. He was a high schooler with patient nerves and slow reflexes, who thought too much and believed little. His skeptical personality didn’t have much room for a hard-edge gang from “the tough side of town” who broke into fully choreographed dance numbers at the whim of their leader, usual in highly saturated uniforms that didn’t leave much for the imagination.

Their leader, Mr. Danny Sexbang was an anomaly entirely his own. He was the mystery Kid tried hard not to think about too much.

He found himself laughing, his voice an unusual twitter among the deeper laughs around him. Through the night, various gang members had left their table for a number of reasons, and Kid found himself in the center of the booth, picking among the surplus of pizzas the chiefs had cooked them. It was no mystery that the Cool Patrol owned the Moonlight Rollerway. Maybe not in a financial aspect, Kid never saw the guys giving any orders or corrections to the staff, but they were certainly pampered by the waiters and cooks. When Kid imagined what a gang owning an establishment might look like, his mental image didn’t quite line up with what he had grown accustomed to over the many nights he’d spent at the roller rink. But, he took a slice of pizza, that’s Midburn for you. Nothing in this tiny town seemed normal.

Mac and Guy laughed again, the first laughing more fully while the latter chuckled to himself. Kid bit into the pizza slice in his hand, looking around at the older man at his sides. Guy, the muscular, quiet leader of the Cool Patrol goons, sat on the back of the booth like usual, his feet on the seat next to Kid. The boy occasionally handed Guy a pizza slice he couldn’t reach, but they didn’t speak much beyond that. Guy wasn’t much for conversation. Mac, the softer, bearded goon, sat next to Kid, reclined against the red upholstery, hands in his lap. Kid liked Mac a lot. He was kinder, more gentle, and the goofiest of goons. He was easy to tease and easier than Guy to talk too. But Mac was more shy, so he didn’t like dragging on conversations.

On the roller rink, in the center of the wooden oval, danced Danny and Bud, paired up and grooving in unique long-legged unison. Kid loved watched them dance together, they were one of the more natural pairs among the group, and it was always obvious in their routines. Bud was lanky and skinny like Danny, with a boyish face and groomed blond hair. He was the most youthful in personality as well, and clicked with Kid the most. He was an excellent conversationalist, and the kid sometimes wished they had more time to just sit and chat. He wasn’t sure what it would be about, but Bud would probably find something to keep the conversation going.

And then there was Danny, the leader, whose signature flashy sequin covered performance suits, with the plunging necklines, capes, and signature red and white Star of David emblem on his core, was missing. This dance, as the Cool Patrol could translate, wasn't a performance, simply a fun groove between Danny and the youngest member. While Guy and Mac led the other skaters in a rhythmic clap that sounded all around the open space, the two skaters in the rink stomped and kicked in time, facing each other and then spinning with their arms linked. They released the arm-hold and kicked at each other in unison, slapping their skates and hooking knees, jumping in a circle before unhooking and making a wide circle around each other, spinning and twirling low. Dropping to the floor, they held themselves up on one arm, kicking their legs outward, finally rolling back onto their shoulders and launching themselves upwards back onto their skates. The whole show was an impressive match of skill and expertise between the two, the kind of competition Kid could watch all night. Danny, with his sidekick and best friend, Ninja Brian, was a sight to behold, on and off his skates. Kind and open, Danny was charming and sincere, and threw himself into all manners of introductions and new friends. He did stick close, however, to the other Cool Patrol members, his rock and home, but seemed to recognize most of the other skaters by name, or by some relation. The curly-haired Jew was the perfect specimen of the “seven links” theory, though he was barely stretched past two or three.

Finally, the dance ended with a flurry of applause and spins, and Kid clapped, humored by his boisterous companions. Danny and Bud drifted towards each and clasped a hand, swinging an arm around the other’s shoulders with an exhausted hug. Danny then stepped backwards, raising Bud’s hand above his head, triggering new applause from the audience. Kid smiled and let out a short shout of cheer. It was always like Danny to praise the other first. Letting Bud’s hand drop, Danny took half a step forward and stooped low in a graceful bow, the audience loudly displaying their love. Bud laughed and grabbed Danny’s shoulders after he straightened, the two skating back to the table.  
“Nice job!” Mac encouraged, Guy offering his hand and helping Bud climb over the wall and onto the carpet.

“Thanks,” Danny smiled, swinging one leg over the wall and straddling it, reached one hand to Kid. “Hey kid, hand me my drink?” Kid quickly obliged, Danny thanking him and removing the plastic lid, cleaning a piece of ice with his lips and tongue before rubbing it over his jaw and neck. The normal music then picked up and various skaters reentered the rink, returning to the normal flow of things.

Danny finally climbed off the wall and shuffled in the heavy skates to the back of the table, Kid unsure where to move to return the center spot to the leader. But instead of taking the seat, Danny leaned on the back of the booth, untying his skates with one hand. Ninja Brian was suddenly by his side, handing Danny his sunglasses. Danny thanked him, and continuing untying his skates. Brian then shoved one his leather-clad shoulders, Danny aiming his brown eyes up at the ninja. Mute as ever, Brian pointed through their group and to the other side of the rink.

“Hey Danny,” Guy called over his shoulder. Concerned, Danny hobbled to the front of the table, one skate in his hands. Kid looked as well, wondering what trouble the others had detected. 

On the far side of the rink, another gang was gathering. They were about as muscular as the average Moonlight skater, which were usually very muscular, and didn't appear to be trouble makers. Kid frowned as the distant group began to change clothes. Some wrapped bandanas around their heads, other swapped out their denim vests, and soon all of them were wearing some sort of dark, murky pattern. Then, the group parted, and a tall, straight edged woman stepped forward, slipping over the wall and into the rink. Kid’s head turned when Danny stepped to the wall, sitting half on it as he tied his skate back on, eyes continuously studying the approaching woman. Guy and Mac began to stir as well, rising to their feet, Bud putting his leather jacket and sunglasses back on. They eased from their seats and surrounded the wall after Danny swung his legs over it, standing at the edge of the rink. Kid looked up to Ninja Brian, who stood at his side, eyes hard and clouded. Something was on the horizon; the ninja could feel it.  
As the woman drew nearer and Danny moved to meet her, Kid got a better look at her, standing on the chair to see over the shoulders of the goons. Her pale blonde hair framed a heart-shaped face, and her body was long and straight, her hips encircled by a sharp edge. She wore black ripped trousers, and a leather shirt that emphasized her naked shoulders. Around her neck was a thick silver chain, on which hung a fossilized alligator tooth. This connection revealed to Kid that the woman’s top, as well as the various accessories of her companions, was distinctly made of alligator skin, something that seemed entirely remote in this quiet town.

“Hello,” she smiled at Danny, who put his hands on his hips, studying her through his sunglasses.

“Hello yourself,” he replied in an edged, albeit charming tone.

“This your rink? It’s nice.”

“Thank you,” Danny smiled, tilting his head curiously. “You skate?”

“I play,” she shrugged, tossing her long blonde locks behind her shoulders. “Is that your gang? They're adorable.”

Kid felt the goons around him stiffen and shift as the woman leaned around Danny, waving at them. Danny turned and eyed them over his shoulder, turning slowly back to the woman. Taking his sunglasses off, he crossed his arms.

“Problem?” the woman smiled up at him with a playful shrug.

“Yeah, we’re blocking traffic.” Taking her elbow, Danny lead her slowly to the front end of the rink, the goons rounding around to meet their leader. Kid moved to follow but Brian caught his white Oxford by the fistful, steering him back into the booth. While Kid stumbled down onto the red leather, Brian pointed at his spot on the seat, telling him firmly to stay put. Kid slumped his shoulders and pouted, the ninja stalking after the group.

“So, what’s your name?” Danny asked, himself and his companion reaching the wall just as the other gangs gathered closely around.

“I asked you first,” she smiled, heaving herself onto the wall before Danny could, sitting side saddle.

“No you didn’t,” the man replied with a tense grin.

“Well I certainly meant to.” Her tone dripped with seduction, and Brian was glad he told the kid to stay and guard the pizzas. He should be used to that by now, anyway.

Letting out a short cough of a laugh, Danny pushed from the wall, shaking his head. “I am Danny Sexbang, m’lady,” he made a sweeping bow that was somewhere between a curtsey and a headlong kneel. “And these gentlemen are the Cool Patrol, and this is my faithful partner, Ninja Brian.”

“Charmed,” the lady replied.

“And you are?”

“We’re the Gator Skaters, also known as the gang that stole the Moonlight Rollerway from the Cool Patrol.”

A full beat passed before Danny replied. He merely snorted and cracked half a smirk. “Adorable.”

While Danny drew back to the wall, the goons smiled and silently rallied themselves. No way their leader was going to let this threat go unanswered.

“The only thing you’ve captured, I’m afraid, is my attention, but that’s about it.” Danny hopped onto the wall, crossing one long leg under him. “The Moonlight Rollerway, my dear, isn’t going anywhere. If you’d like to challenge that, I welcome it. But you better be prepared to have your most exquisite-looking rear handed back to you in the wake of our fresh, groovy delivery.” Danny grinned smugly at her, feeling the encouraging pats of his goons on his back and shoulder.

The woman laughed. It wasn’t a loud malicious laugh, but it was more a personal chuckle. She was subtly mocking them. “I heard that the Cool Patrol thought they were the toughest gang around, I just find it so funny how sincerely you all believe it.”

“Hey babydoll,” Danny shrugged, dropping back onto his skates, “fake it 'til you make it. But these moves?” He swayed his hips like they were pure liquid pouring over smooth glass, “they’ve brought stronger men than you to their knees.”

The woman eyed his frame and licked her lips, sliding back onto her skates and drifting towards him. Grabbing a handful of leather, she yanked their bodies together. “Don’t disappoint me, Sexbang.”

“I’d request the same, but I’d hate to insult you.”

Faster than the gang realized, she had grabbed a handful of Danny's brown curls, yanking the taller man’s face into her own. He snatched her wrist as she yanked, locking their positions. “The Moonlight Rollerway will belong to the Gators, mark my words. I want you and your gang to get out, and take your fights and innuendoes with you. This place is about to have a change of face, and I’m afraid my vision has no room for someone with ‘sex’ in their name.” Releasing the hair, the woman pulled her hand back, but frowned, her arm unmoving in Danny’s grasp. He straightened his head slowly and stared down at her with deep brown eyes, pinpricks of red in the center of his cheeks.

“Don’t threaten me,” was all he said. "I'd hate for you to threaten me. Those that do don't last very long." With a hard glare, he threw her hand away. “Now get out of the Moonlight and keep away from my gang.”

The woman pushed backwards a step, sizing the man up with her eyes slowly, memorizing every detail. Danny wasn't one to deny the privilege of looking upon his sultry body to anyone, especially not a lady as … exciting as this, but he put his hands on his hips, digging into his own jeans with his fingernails. Something about the way her eyes roamed around him left him feeling a little too exposed. Surely, her expression told him, she had under estimated Danny Sexbang. Gathering her goons, she herded them towards the exit, a green haired boy running smack into them.

“Sorry!” Kid stammered, swinging around the gang that eyed him hungrily. He hurried to the Cool Patrol, Danny meeting him at the wall.

“Kid, what are you doing over here?” he asked. “I thought Ninja Brian told you to stay at the table.”

“He did,” the boy blushed, feeling all the eyes on him. “But… uh…” Kid nodded over Danny’s left shoulder and the group turned and quickly saw the kid’s usual tormentors, two big, muscular, meat-for brains bullies, huddled together and growling their typical threats at him.

“Good grief,” Danny pinched the bridge of his nose, crossing his arms. “Brian, will you kick those guys out?” Kid looked to where the ninja had stood just a second before and found only open air.

“How 'bout we get in on that too, Danny?” Guy asked, cracking his knuckles.

“Yeah, we’ve told those meat heads to get out of here enough already,” Bud echoed. “And I want to hit something.”

Danny swung one arm towards the bullies. “Be my guest.”

Kid smiled as the two scrambled around him excitedly, hurrying to the tattooed thugs before Ninja Brian finished them off himself.

“Hey Danny,” Mac asked shyly, standing close as Danny pulled himself over the wall, “what she say to you?”

“Her and her gang want the Moonlight,” Danny replied, untying one skate.

“What?” Kid yelped, looking between them quickly. “Why? You aren't doing anything bad to it!”

Skates in hand, Danny put his sunglasses back on as he herded the two back to the table. “That's how gangs work, kid. What one gang has, another gang wants. And, apparently, Miss Gator has a ‘new vision’ for this place that doesn’t involve fighting and speedo sporting dances.”

“That’s bull!” Kid cried.

“Language, kid!” Danny replied sharply. “Gee, where you been hearing this sailor talk?”

“Sorry,” Kid blushed, waiting for Danny and Mac to slide into the booth before he took a seat, if there was room. “There are some loudmouths at school who will say anything to get the teachers hot an’ bothered.”

Danny smiled and took his sunglasses back off, setting them on the table. Picking up a pizza box, he offered the last slice to the Irish boy. “Just remember, you’re loads better than any loudmouth.”

Smiling, Kid took the box and slide in next to Mac, who happily gave him a little extra room.

“Danny?” Kid asked, putting the now empty box under another half-full one, “Are those Gators going to come back? Are they really going to try to take the Moonlight from the Cool Patrol?”

Danny took a bite of his Carnivore style pizza and kept his eyes ahead, which glittered. “I certainly hope they try.”


	2. JUMP!

When asked where he went every night, Kid wasn’t sure what to say. So, he usually just shrugged and said he spent a lot of time at the roller rink or home, which wasn’t completely a lie, since the roller rink had become like home. A few more socially involved individuals would sometimes gasp, and ask if that wasn’t where that gang of ruffians always hung out, as if they didn’t know. Kid would frown and say that he never noticed any ruffians or gang wars, or he’d say that yeah, but they never bothered him. He was just a kid.

When people would ask him why his toe continued to tap and his thoughts were jittery and distant all week long, he’d shrug the blame on some upcoming test, or that he was feeling homesick. Both of which were very true, but for very different reasons than his audience could ever imagine. But it did make him wonder: could you miss living at a place before you even left it?

He practically ran all the way to the Moonlight after school. It was Friday night, and as he had learned, Friday was usually the most exciting night of the week when the Cool Patrol was involved. At least for the 18-years-old and younger skaters. Sure enough, the place was crowded, but significantly more than usual. As he bumped his way through the crowd, Kid was caught by Bud in passing, the goon asking if he was excited.

“Excited for what?” Kid asked back, muffled by the crowd around him.

“Just get to the table and hang on to your socks!” Bud smiled, quickly weaving back into the crowd. Kid tried to call after him, but he was gone. With a sigh, he readjusted the shoulder straps to his backpack and moved to the table, which was currently empty of Cool Patrol members, but covered in pizzas. He flung his back pack and himself into the booth and grabbed a warm slice of his favorite specialty pizza, suddenly hungrier than he realized.

The rink, he noticed with a frown, was empty. The guys had to be planning something. He wondered if it had anything to do with the Gators. He didn’t see any of those sausage brains around, but the place was packed beyond reason tonight. It would have been easy to miss them. Then, a presence was at his side, and Kid flinched, realizing Ninja Brian was beside him.

“Geez!” the boy grumbled, Brian’s blue eyes flashing down at him quickly in confusion. Kid shook his head and ignored the ninja, reaching for another slice of pizza. Brian was suddenly swatting his shoulder with the back of his hand, Kid looking up quickly. He followed Brian’s motion to the rink, noticing for the first time that the lights were dimming and the crowd growing quiet.

Then, the neon lights that stretched around the room lit up, piecing the blue darkness with their pink, green, and violet glow. Everyone remained quiet as the disco ball was illuminated suddenly from all sides, sending pinpricks of light all around the room. Lasers flashed into place, and for several agonizing seconds, all was still.

“ _Ladies and gentlemen_ ,” a voice boomed over the sound system, “ _dudes and babes, the Moonlight Rollerway proudly presents, dancing to ‘_ Jump’ _by Van Halen, challenged by the Gator Skaters in a Skate Off ... THE COOL PATROL!”_

Everyone lost their minds, and the music rumbled through the room, vibrating the floor and shaking the walls. Past the smoke and flashing lasers, Kid thought he recognized four figures begin to quickly circle the rink in an intricate bobbing and weaving pattern.

“What’s going on?” He asked Brian over the noise, who stooped to hear him. Catching Kid’s eyes with a flash of excitement in his own, Brian pounded one fist into his open palm. Kid turned back around, nodding. It was a duel then. And if the timed lights and perfected acoustics hadn’t given it away, Kid figure that the Cool Patrol was going all out.

Finally, as the music picked up, the four returned to the center, spinning in a tight circle, their arms on each other’s shoulders, lowering themselves to the floor as they spun. With an explosion of lights and blue glitter, Danny thrusted up into the air from the center of the ring, right on cue with the lyrics.

Kid let himself smile, knowing he probably looked foolish, but he didn’t care. That son of a gun was singing every word while skating among his goons.

Their dance was spectacular. As his eyes adjusted to the strobe lights, Kid could start to discern their outfits. Danny, of course, was in a brand new sequined royal blue unitard, complete with flare leg pants and a small cape that was pinned to his shoulders. The red and white Jewish Star emblem on his core was like a beacon on his chest in the dark lights, and his elbow and knee pads and protective gloves all glittered with traces of the sequins. The other three, Guy, Mac, and Bud, were not wearing their leather, or the flashy pastel skins they usually wore during a dance number. Instead, they wore uniforms that matched nearly every detail of Danny’s, without the cape or Jewish Star, but complete with plunging necklines, long sleeves that flared out over their wrists, and shorts that stopped at the so called “bikini line.” Their unitards, surprisingly enough, were just as glittery as their leader’s, and each goon sported his own color. Guy wore brilliant red, Mac wore deep gold, and Bud wore a fiery violet, complimenting Danny’s blue in a whirl of color.

The four never broke sync. While Danny sang, he kept more of the stunts to the other three, joining them and dancing to his body's limit during the musical bridge. They kicked in a line and spun in partnered circles, mapping complex geometry on the rink as they crossed it back and forth in quadrupled patterns. On every "Jump" command, they did so, sometimes spinning in the air, sometimes kicking, sometimes free styling their explosions of energy, but it was always on cue.

When the final chorus began winding down, the four gathered in the top of the rink, taking a quick second to back against the wall, and then charged forward. In one step they turned, skating backwards, and in the next they planted both feet and leaped, spring boarding off their skates. Kid suddenly understand their gloves, as they landed in a brief handstand first before launching up into a full backflip. Touching the floor, the four skaters slid down onto their knees, Danny kneeling on just one, and spun on their kneepads to face forward again. On the final beat they threw their arms outward, stopping on the spot.

The crowd went ballistic, leaping onto their feet and cheering and praising. Kid jumped up as well, clapping and shouting for the goons. Danny was radiant with pride and dropped his arms first, motioning for the three behind him to stand, who did obediently. Blushing and waving, the goons soaked up the praise, skating suddenly for Danny. After two steps, they slid to their knees and spun around, arms outstretched and framing their leader. Laughing, Danny smiled and stood, stacking his skates one behind the other and giving another sweeping bow before straightening and waving energetically to the crowd. After turning so he addressed each side fairly, Danny dropped the pose and joined in line with the others while they stood, bowing in unison. Kid was shouting so hard his throat was beginning to hurt.

Breaking formation, the four swarmed each other with congratulatory pats and hugs, moving smoothly to the wall, where Kid had rushed to greet them. He stretched his hands out for high fives, Guy and Mac excitedly realizing he was there and returning the gesture. While Danny climbed over the wall, Kid stood on his toes and threw his arms around the leader's shoulders, who held him back loosely, asking how they did.

“How you did?!” Kid cried, pulling back and aiming Danny’s brown eyes at him, his hands on the much larger man’s shoulders. “Do you even hear these people! You were insane! And you guys look great!” The others laughed and thanked him while untying their skates, Brian handing out water cups, Kid quickly moving to help.

Brian neared Danny and offered him one, Danny thanking him and dropping the cup to his lap, looking at the competitors across the rink. Brian took his strong shoulder with one hand, squeezing. Danny smiled bashfully at the praise and nodded his thanks, finally hauling himself completely off the wall while he splashed the cold water into his mouth.

“You save us any pizza?” Bud asked, sitting next to Kid in the booth. The boy scooted over, quickly finding himself caught against Guy’s legs, Mac sitting just past them. Danny perked on the edge next to Bud, who stretched his arms over the back of the booth. Danny balanced his cup on his hands and his elbows on his knees, focused entirely on the gang that assembled on the other side of the rink.

_“And now, the challengers, the opposing gang … The Gator Skaters!”_

Where the crowd went mad for the Cool Patrol, they went primal when the Gators entered the rink. Boos and jeers caved in on Kid from every side, and he flinched, the men around him unfazed. They had, however, almost completely stilled, and watched the rink with sharp eyes.

Kid looked that way too, trying to relax his shoulders. He hoped this wouldn’t be like in the movies, where the second team always does better.

Whether it was or not, Kid couldn't tell, and all too quickly, the routine was over.

"How'd they do?" Kid asked Bud next to him, applauding with the Cool Patrol.

"Not bad," Bud shrugged, "technically speaking. But you tell me, did they have all this magic?" Kid giggled as Bud motioned over himself seductively. Even Danny cracked a small grin, taking another drink from his cup.

"No, guess not," Kid smiled.

"And that's where we beat them," Mac smiled. "Nobody can choreograph like Danny. And singing _and_ skating at the same time? We got them beat for sure."

Kid nodded confidently and looked to Danny to catch his reaction, but the leader had suddenly stood, slipping out of the booth without another word.

\---------------------------------------------------

Outside, Danny ran from the employee exit and called sharply at the retreating figure before him. The blonde woman stopped, and sighed.

Danny stepped to her, spinning her around. “You didn’t skate with them. Why didn’t you skate with them?”

The woman shifted her weight, as if annoyed by the whole interrogation. “Because they aren’t my team anymore.”

This was the last response Danny expected to hear. “Wait… so they voted you out?”

“Not exactly…” the woman paced away, tugging at her blonde curls. Her blond curls that almost glowed under the moonlight, framing her in a gentle hallo. “I _was_ leader, okay? Top dog of the Gators. But tonight… look I just, I couldn’t skate tonight, so... I couldn't skate tonight."

“Why not?” Danny frowned, his sympathy for the woman not yet strong enough to override his suspicions.

She stopped at this and crossed her arms, back to Danny. And what a smooth, elegant back it was. Spinning suddenly, she stomped her foot. “Because you can’t skate with a guilty conscious, that’s what I’ve always known to be true.”

Relaxing his shoulders, Danny released the breath he had captured. A small smile tugged at his lips as he stepped closer to the woman. “What have you got to feel guilty about?”

The woman stepped to him promptly, the sequins in his suit catching her hair. “That I pulled your… perky hair.”

“’Perky’ is it?” Danny laughed, a ghost of a chuckle passing his smiling lips.

“Yeah. It’s got some much… bounce to it.”

“Well, I feel that I should also apologize,” Danny breathed.

“Why?” her breathed touched his lips. “You didn’t hurt me.”

“No, not to you … to my gang.”

“What for?”

“For kissing you.”

\-------------------------------------------

Her name was Kristin, and she was as good of a kisser as he was a dancer. They both shared a passion for grooving and skating, but it was unclear if they both celebrated song. Danny somehow forgot to ask.

By midnight, the crowd had left and the employees began to clean up the aftermath. Bud crumbled a napkin in his hands and lobbed it to the trashcan, making it the first try.

“Nice,” Kid gave him a lopsided smirk, his cheek resting in his palm. Bud just smiled back as he threw his arms over the back of the booth. Guy looted through the pizza boxes, finding the last piece.

“Anyone?” he offered it to the group, and they denied it. As he munched on the cold slice, Guy aimed his attention at the yawning high schooler.

“Shouldn’t you get to bed?” Mac asked, gathering the pizza boxes.

Kid sat up and scowled at him. “I’m in High School, it’s not like I’m still in primary.”

Frowning, Mac looked at Brian, who shrugged.

“Hey Danny,” Bud greeted as their leader joined them, still in his glittering unitard.

“Where you been?” Guy asked, shoveling a lose pepperoni in his mouth.

Danny snatched his cup and rattled it. “Discussing things with the owners,” he reported.

“The owners?” Kid frowned, half way into another yawn.

“The owners of the place judged the competition,” Bud explained to the boy under his arm. “So, what they say?”

Danny, halfway in a long slurp, frowned, almost insulted. “Oh, we won, no doubt.” The others sighed heavily, Danny smirking. “You meat heads were worried? We blew them out of the water tonight.”

Guy motioned to Danny, licking the pizza sauce off his fingertips. “If you hadn’t had thrown that whole thing together like you did, we would have had to recycle some old stuff.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that would have done the trick,” Bud nodded.

Mac soon returned, hands empty of boxes. “Hey Danny. What I miss?”

“We won tonight,” Danny reported. "That's one-to-zip, Us."

“Alright! Go team! Hold them off for one more duel and we win. So, how about we split? The kid’s about to start on those forty winks of his.”

“Am’not,” Kid slurred, slumped against Guy’s knee.

“We all good here, Brian?” Danny asked over their heads, and Brian gave him a thumbs up. “Cool. Then let’s jet.”

Guy gently scooted the Kid off his legs and crawled of the booth, Danny taking his spot on the seat while Bud held the kid upright. After Bud gently rested the boy against Danny’s back, looping his arms around Danny’s neck, Danny took careful hold of the sleeping high schooler. He eased up and turned, waiting for the rest to follow suit. His curls brushed against Kid’s face and he giggled, burying his face deeper into the sequins.

“Brian,” Danny summoned quietly, “remind me to get one of these things. They are _super_ great cuddlers when they are exhausted.” Brian nodded and led the group to the door, jingling the van keys.


	3. WHEN CAT'S AWAY

Listening to passing conversations wasn't something Kid liked to do, no matter where he went. He was too often lost in his own thoughts and reason to even pick up anything as the words floated by, but when the whole school was abuzz about the event that had taken place at the roller rink the previous weekend, his ears perked up.

"Everyone at school was talking about you guys today," he bragged to the guys Monday night while helping Mac carry the pizzas to the table.

"Really?" Mac shifted the boxes in his hands. "Why?"

"Because you totally smashed the Gators on Friday," Kid answered, teasing the older man for forgetting.

"Oh yeah, guess we did," Mac smiled. "Hey Guy, hear that? We're famous at the High School."

Guy snorted, taking a box. "What are you talking about? I was always famous in high school."

"I wasn't," shrugged Bud while mixing his drink. "What're they saying about us, Kid?"

"I dunno," Kid shrugged with one shoulder while holding a box open for Danny's inspection.

"Yes, you do," the curly haired man teased. "You probably remember how many slices Guy shoved in his face that one time we bet Mac could do more."

"Three, including the crusts," Guy spoke up quickly. "That was record setting, it was hard to forget."

"Not to mention you almost passed out afterwards from throwing up so much," Danny replied, leaning his seat back against the wall and kicking his feet on the booth next to Bud. "Some guys were not made to fit a lot in their mouths."

"Haha," Guy laughed through clenched teeth, a blush forming across his cheeks.

“Guys, we are forgetting what really matters here,” Bud scolded sternly. “Really Kid, what they say about us? Bet it wasn’t half true!”

“I bet it was all true,” Mac frowned. “It’s not like kids lie, they’re too innocent.”

Danny silently palmed his forehead, ducking his chin into his chest.

“They didn’t say much, I don’t think anyone from school actually comes to the rink that much,” Kid shrugged, sitting backwards in a chair at the end of the table. “But your awesome performance definitely got them talking about the whole challenge thing. I’mean, you’re not exactly unknown around the school, just no one knows you like, y’know, I do.”

“You spread any rumors of your own?” Danny asked.

“No! Who would I tell?"

"Your friends?"

Kid gave a small, half-snort. "What friends? Besides, no one would believe me. Why _would_ they believe that I know that Cool Patrol?”

His brown curls glittered while Danny shrugged his shoulders. “You’ve got super powers?”

“They don’t know that! No one knows that.”

Bud leaned forward, crossing his arms over the table.

“Why not?”

“Why would I tell them?” Kid could feel his cheeks start to blush, and he quieted himself down. Honestly, the gang had never been this interested in him before, and he had never told them about his suffering social life. He never told anyone, actually. Besides these five guys around him, including Ninja Brian, he didn’t have a single person to talk to. No one would listen to him. He sighed, dropping his eyes and hands into his lap. “I’m not really popular at school. I’m still ‘the new kid’, or whatever, and I guess I’ll always be. These kids have all grown up together and I’m just some Irish goody-two-shoes who thinks too much and doesn’t talk enough.”

Suddenly, something smacked the back of his head. Turning with a yelp, Kid looked up at Ninja Brian. The ninja had one finger in the air, shaking it in Kid’s face. He then pointed the finger to the center of the boy’s forehead, giving it a few gently stabs.

“Brian’s right,” Danny smiled. “Besides, those kids’re liver breaths, just forget about ‘em.”

“But…” Kid frowned, looking down at the carpet. He couldn’t just ‘forget about them,’ these were the kids he spent seven hours a day with. Besides being literally impossible to forget someone you spend that much time with, he didn’t really want to. It wasn’t that Kid was opposed to making friends, and he didn’t have any preconceived judgments against anyone at his school, he was just a loner by nature. It did get boring after a few months of remaining invisible in his own High School, however.

Just then, Guy hollered across the rink. “Hey! Put those skates back on!” The gang quickly turned, spotting the trouble makers, a pair of no-good young adults with too much time on their hands. Having been spotted, the two ran for the front door, skates still in hand.

“Crap!” Danny clambered to his feet, the others scrambling around Kid to join the chase. Kid watched them, shoulders slumped. Maybe he _could_ use a night at home sometime this week.

\-------------------------------------------------------

He took the next night off, and spent his Tuesday evening buried in various dime novels to pass the time. After deciding which short mystery he’d once again solve, he tried to focus, and not think too much about whether the Cool Patrol was missing him or not.

Sometimes, speaking out a reality you’ve always understood makes it that much more evident, and worse, especially when it’s a bad reality. After verbally reiterating his social problems with the guys two nights before, he couldn’t move his mind off the subject, and the next Wednesday of back to back classes passed excruciatingly slowly. Now, it wasn’t Humanities class anymore, it was row three seat seven, his own little island. And the library wasn’t a scholarly place, it was a funerary place. As silly as he knew it was, he just wanted to be heard by someone, to make a connection. And he didn’t want it to be with the Cool Patrol, though he also _did_ want it to be with the Cool Patrol. There was no reason for anyone to say it; he knew he needed friends other than the grown adults who were always picking fights, but it was just so hard.

That evening, before the after-work and post-dinner crowd rolled in, Guy and Bud were in the rink. They had seen some younger skaters throw themselves headfirst into a new break dance move, only to nearly dislocate a shoulder each, and the goons were determined to figure it out. Guy was working up the nerve to throw himself at the ground and Bud was offering a questionable form of encouragement when suddenly, the taller man grunted and hit the floor, someone from behind having shoved him.

Laughter surrounded the two, Guy planting his short mass protectively over the longer man while growling at the offenders.

“Oops, sorry,” the man jeered, both Cool Patrol goons noticing his distinctly alligator skin jacket. “My momma always taught me not to pick on girls. Especially little baby ones!”

“And my mother always taught me to pick fights with people my own size,” Guy growled, advancing on the taller man, “unless they weren’t.”

“Oh yeah, and what if they weren’t?”

“She taught me to go straight for the grundles.” Guy kneed the man and the fight was on.

It took several swings into the brawl before Mac and Brian could break it up.

“Knock it off!” Mac shouted, arms outspread before the two groups. Guy was rubbing blood from his nose, Bud had had the air knocked out of him, and the others guys were suffering from a bruised jawline and aching ribs. “No fighting on the rink, you know that!”

“They started it!” Bud declared.

“Yeah, they knocked him on his face,” Guy added. Brian glared at his goons first, stopping their arguments, and then turned and faced the challengers, eyeing them up and down, picking apart their every weak point.

“Darn straight we started it!” The loudmouthed one declared, throwing himself at Mac and the ninja in a way that was probably intended to be threatening. “We aimed to start it! We wanna fight! In fact, we wanna fight the both of you, right now!”

Brian’s eyes flashed and he looked quickly to Mac. This was a trap.

“I just said there’s no fighting in the rink,” the man replied with a hesitant frown. He hadn’t lost his nerve yet, Brian praised him for, but he was intrigued and concerned about the man’s intentions. That was okay for the most part, so was Brian. “If you really want to fight, you’ll have to take it outside.”

The men from both sides loudly began to object and Brian drew a dagger, aiming it over both shoulders, shutting them all up.

“Why do you want to fight so bad?” Mac asked.

“Who cares?” Bud snarled.

Guy cracked his knuckles. “We can take them, no problem.”

“Because we,” the other man visibly cooled, like he returned to a script he had been waiting to use, “two fine Gator Skaters, challenge you lugnuts to a duel.”

Brian swore with his eyes.

“Our leader’s not here,” Mac tried, suspicions raised.

“Neither’s ours.” The two laughed, cracking their knuckles. “But I don’t remember challenging _him_.”

Alright, that was enough. Brian tucked the dagger away safely and turned, seizing his goons by the arms and dragging them back across the wood to their table where they _would_ sit and wait until he finished chewing their butts off.

“Hey! I thought the Cool Patrol was above hiding behind a Jew!”

…

The four stopped. They raised their heads and cracked their necks, rolling their shoulders and cracking their knuckles. Then, they turned, facing the two meatheads.

“Name the song,” Bud snarled.

\-----------------------------------------------------

Even Danny Sexbang was allowed a night off once in a while, away from the prying, stripping eyes of the outside world. Danny wasn’t your average Midburn citizen, much less your average human, and it proved exhausting. His charm and wit had come to him like a blessing from Heaven when he deserted his first, true heritage to pursue his real love and lifeblood, but they required maintenance and energy. And every few weeks or so, Brian would head to the rink early to keep an eye on things while Danny would spend his evening doing, well, whatever he wanted. Soaking in the privacy, trying to shake the ever-watching eyes of Midburn off his back. A typical night off would consist of little more than the lengthy man curling himself up on the couch, wearing little else than his “house-wear” cotton kimono, blankets and pillows huddled around him in an impenetrable fort, watching ancient, and poorly produced, Asian films. The ones with the long Mandarin soliloquies and hours of endless, mindless bloodshed were his go-to’s. Even the entirely predictable and unrealistic romance films could do a decent job of holding his attention into the early hours of the morning, or until Ninja Brian came home and dragged him to his room to get some sleep, but of all the movies he watched, Danny would never place anything with a plot or subplot about “honor” or “family legacy” in front of his drained, exhausted self. That was an easy way to ruin the whole evening, and he was looking to shut himself off, not get hot and bothered.

Tonight, however, was different. He was very much hot and bothered.

And so was Kristin.

“What’re they saying?” the blonde asked, curled up against Danny’s chest, one hand absently memorizing the seam in his kimono, running the silk between her thumb and forefinger.

Danny recited the line in its original dialect.

Kristin giggled and swatted at him. “I heard that much! What does it mean?”

Danny sighed, and flung his curls from his face. “‘You can never steal my love from my side, just as you can never steal the beauty from the Lilly’.”

“No it doesn’t!” Kristin sat her, her long hair waterfalling over his shoulders as she faced the man next to her. “You just made that up.”

“What would I make up words to a 1,700-year-old script?” Danny asked, stretching his neck to look up at her.

“Because you’re just that clever,” she purred, laying back against him. Danny smiled and kissed her.

“You think I’d compare your beauty to a Lilly? You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Why do you say that? What would you compare it to?”

Turning so he faced the woman, Danny recited another line, the film before them keeping time with his proverb.

“What’s that mean?” Kristin smiled into his lips.

“‘He who flatters his love will come to an end, because a sincere love needs not poetry. It needs only to breath to prove it’s true’.”

“’Sincere love’, huh?” Kristin giggled.

“And baby-doll,” he brushed her lips with his as he whispered, “you take my breath away.”

\--------------------------------------------------------

It was the next night, and he Cool Patrol had never looked so defeated. Kid tried to blink away the moister that pooled in his eyes at the sight. The parking lot was empty of its usual middle-of-the-week loiters, but Kid quickly spotted Danny, who had cornered the goons against the side of his silver van. His tone was something Kid tried not to remember, and the wave of guilt and sympathy for his friends crawled all over his skin like a heavy cloud, their injuries still visible in the moonlight. He quickly headed inside, ducking into the bathroom and locking the stall behind him. Crawling onto the toilet seat, he wrapped his arms around his knees and tried desperately to keep his crying quiet.

It was Thursday, and the night before had been a disaster in every sense of the word. After being emotionally crushed at school, Kid had accidentally wandered off his usual path between the school and home, and ended up somewhere a few blocks behind the roller rink. The two bullies that were always eager to pounce on him had been sure to drag him beside the dumpster against the backside of the Moonlight while they beat on him, letting the familiar aromas of his favorite pizza mix with the taste of his own blood.

It had been one of the worse beatings, like the bullies knew no help was coming, and that the super-powered boy was too unstable to fight them off. When they finally spat on him and walked away, he crawled into the rink, surrounded by the sounds of an angry crowd and another fight, this time between Guy and Bud and two Gators. The men were exchanging blows and bleeding, and Kid heard bones crack, even above the chants of the crowd. Sickened and nauseous, he beelined for the bathroom before he puked all over the carpet, and finally emerged only after he could see straight a bit more easily, at least enough to tell which direction was up.

Apparently, he had heard Friday morning at school, the Gators had prematurely challenged the Cool Patrol, and Guy and Bud has lost the fight. Disastrously. After the fist fight had ended and the Gators retreated to lick their wounds, Kid had heard one of them enter the bathroom to grab some towels, he cautiously emerged from the restroom, hoping his friends weren't too badly off. As he neared the rink, the Cool Patrol all-at-once turned in on itself, blows being exchanged between the gang-members, partners, friends. Words were said and fists were flying, though no one could, or would, say who started it. The owners emerged and broke the fight up, along with Ninja Brian, and Kid heard someone among the crowd utter the word “police”. He decided then that he needed to be home.

That was Thursday night, and Friday night Kid had dragged himself back to the Moonlight not to chat with the others, not even to try to enjoy their odd friendship like he had desperately needed the night off the fight, but he was there on business. The bullies had taken a nasty pounding to his small body, and he had been instructed, entrusted, to tell the gang whenever this happened. They had said he was under their protection, but Kid almost spat on the idea. How could he expect them to “protect” him when they couldn’t even protect their roller rink? When only a few bricks had been between them and his torture?

He sat down at the table but didn’t take his backpack off. The air in the rink was abuzz with the tension of the previous night, and Kid didn’t help himself to the pizza, the scent of anything edible was still making his stomach turn. He just sat there, waiting. Waiting to be the reliable kid he was, waiting to follow instructions.

Waiting for an apology.

Kid stood and shoved the chair back under the table. _That_ he certainly wasn’t getting, and if they couldn’t spare him that much, what was the point of being there at all? He wasn’t their peer, and he certainly wasn’t their friend. So he shoved the front door open – smacking it right into Ninja Brian. Even the pale lights at the front entrance were enough for the ninja to see the cuts, bruises, and turmoil on Kid’s face. Brian grabbed his shoulders firmly and turned him down the steps, approaching the group, which had fanned out away from the van. Kid allowed himself to be herded like the scrawny calf facing the judgement of the head bull.

“Kid?” Danny voiced cracked when he saw the boy’s face. Kid clenched his fists and tried not to let the tears fall. Danny was kneeling before him suddenly, turning his face in the moonlight.

“Get off!” Kid cried, throwing both men off him. “Yeah, so what about it? It’s not like anyone here cares!”

“Kid-” Bud stepped forward but Kid cut him off.

“Shut up! You guys don’t care about me, why would you?! I’m just a scrawny little runt that you keep around to fetch you pizzas and make you feel good about yourselves! Yeah, you ‘saved me’ from the bullies! No you freaking didn’t, have you noticed?! You made it worse! And what have you done about it? Nothing! You just sit around and act like you own this town! Guess what: you don’t! You don’t deserve it, you selfish piles of garbage! I hope the Gators take the rink and kick you all back behind the dumpster where you belong! Where they pounded on me while you had your little ego trip!”

His voice had cracked, tears had gathered, and his face burned, but he didn’t care. He was too emotional to care, too high to notice. It felt like his head was lifting off his body. Turning on his heel, he stomped all the way home.


	4. LOVERS AND FIGHTERS

It had been an exhausting week, but it was finally the weekend. Kid took the whole Saturday off and slept, providing the quiet and escape his body and mind needed to piece themselves back together. He tried not to think about the Moonlight, the Cool Patrol, or much of anything all weekend. He so badly needed the rest.

Everyone needed rest. Brian tried to meditate for most of the weekend and avoid his housemate, who projected a hurricane of emotions while he paced back and forth across their house. Something was up with Danny, but Brian didn’t press it. He convinced himself that Danny was too tightly wound to be handled at the moment, and the lies almost worked to cover up his own guilt. Almost.

He hadn’t told Danny they had started the fight to protect his honor, he tried not to lie to his best friend. The truth was that the four of them had been caught up in the power trip like the Kid had said, too arrogant to let any blaspheme of their leader go answered. But, a little voice deep inside Brian had told him, had the Gators invited them to tea and muffins, the fight still would have happened. So mercilessly destroying the Gators with their first duel had gone straight to their heads. The kid was right.

The kid. This was a thought that broke Brian immediately from his meditation. When he thought about those big strong grown adult men beating on the green haired, thoughtful boy with their bare fists, and having the brass to do so behind the Moonlight in the middle of the evening, it made his chest boil. Standing, Brian moved swiftly to the door of his room and yanked the door open. He needed to murder something.

\-------------------------------------------

“Kristin-”

The lady stopped Danny, taking his hands in hers. “Danny, no! I had no idea what they were doing last night! But I heard what happened and I’m so sorry!”

“You’re sorry?” Danny repeated, backpedaling out of her hold. “Kristin, my entire gang – _entire_ gang is wiped out completely! We are one fight away from getting kicked out of the Moonlight, and my little buddy, the kid, got his own face handed to him last night while your Gators were wailing on my goons!” Danny took a breath and stared at the woman, eyes flicking back and forth between hers. “Forget I said that first part, but Kristin – I can’t keep doing this.”

“No,” Kristin closed the space between them again, “do NOT say that. Danny, you and I are from the same side of the tracks, cut from the same cloth!” Danny had some serious doubts about that. “Forget what happens to the Gators or the Cool Patrol. Stay with me, just the two of us. We can move on, find some other town with some other roller rink and own it, together.” Danny allowed her to kiss him, and sighed when they parted.

“Boy, do I want you,” he admitted. “And I know you want me too, it’s flattering, really.”

Kristin threw her arms around his shoulders, pressing their bodies together, Danny’s hands moving unconsciously to feel her. “Then what’s stopping you?”

Danny kissed her slowly, hesitantly, like writing a goodbye letter. “I got guilt.”

Kristin’s eyes opened and she looked at him, studying his own that shone with earnestness. “You really do?”

“You know I can’t lie to you, and you know I can’t skate with it either. Kristin,” he gently pushed her away by his hold on her hips, looking down at her. “We have to end this. The duel, the challenge, everything.”

“No,” Kristin pulled from his touch, “you can NOT leave me, Danny! We were made for each other; can’t you see that? … Or was it all just a fluke?”

Danny gave a start. “What?”

Stepping forward, Kristin continued to hiss at him. “Am I just another victim of the famous Danny Sexbang? Another one night stand you’ll laugh about one day after I’m long gone?”

“Kristin-!”

“Don’t touch me,” the woman cried, throwing Danny’s hand off her. She took a beat, addressing him more softly. “I wasn’t wrong, was I Danny, about what I said? We were made for each other, you of all people should be able to see it.”

“I do,” Danny swore, “I see it. You’re perfect, dazzling, and I fell head over heels for you when you first entered the rink. But you can’t make me chose between you and the gang, that's not fair!”

“I haven’t made you chose anything, Danny,” Kristin growled quietly. “You’re the one who has the guilt on him, not me. Get rid of it." Taking a deep breath, Kristin faced him. "Saturday night. Midnight. You and I.”

Panic began to beat in Danny’s chest. “No, Kristin, please!”

“I challenge you, Danny! You and you’re entire gang! You want to end it? Fine!” Pivoting, Kristin stomped away, spinning back to face him after some distance had been made. “Couple’s skate, you and me. Winner takes all.”

Frowning, Danny stepped after her desperately. “’All’? What does ‘all’ mean? I don’t know what that means!”

“Depends on who wins. Per the challenge, if you win, the Cool Patrol keeps the Moonlight and the Gators leave town, _all_ of them. If I win, then the Gators get the Moonlight.”

Danny moaned, shoulders slumped. “Seems I lose either way.”

“Well,” Kristin shrugged almost apologetically, “that’s up to you, isn’t it? But Danny,” she moved back towards him quickly, taking the back of his neck and kissing him, “figure it out before you get in the rink. We both deserve your best.”

With that, the woman turned and walked away, Danny watching her form.

He had gotten himself in deep.

\---------------------------------------------

Ninja Brian looked up from his weapons when the front door opened.

“Hey, Bri,” Danny called. “Kill someone?”

Brian nodded, putting down the clean dagger and trading it for a bloody sai.

“That’s nice,” the man sighed, letting his entire frame fall backwards onto the couch, quickly rolling onto his side, his arm and leg hanging over the couch’s edge. Brian raised one eyebrow.

“No, nothing Earth shattering. Just trying to psych myself up for the final duel.”

Brian nodded. It would be straining facing the Moonlight, the gang, and the Gators after the disaster that was two nights ago. He glanced back at Danny, wondering what, exactly, the challenge would be with his entire gang suspended from the rink.

Danny didn’t answer the question, just rolled into his back and sighed, crossing his arms and resting them across his forehead. He needed something that had nothing to do with Danny Sexbang, the Moonlight, the duel, or his gang for a few hours. There was no way he could face Kristin the state he was in.

“Hey Brian, you wanna go fight some dragons?”

Brian plucked his katanna of the table.

\--------------------------------------------

Like a bad omen, Saturday faithfully showed up. Kid’s face was healing after a week of diligently avoiding the Moonlight and the bullies, and he didn’t feel constantly sick anymore. The only way he knew about the duel was because of the chatter around school. All he heard was "Saturday night," "couples," and "leaders", and he knew he had to go. It would be unfair of him to miss the final duel, especially if Danny was the challenger. It hadn't been the curly-haired man's fault he'd been beaten to a pulp while the rest of the Cool Patrol were busy beating on each other.

Besides, he'd avoided them for a week now already. He needed to apologize.

Saturday night at the Moonlight, at least after the stroke of midnight, was an entirely different roller rink. The place officially closed to anyone under 18, Kid was allowed to stay, and the crowd was older, more mature, and tended to be more flirtatious. The high schooler, for the few Saturday nights that he had stayed past the midnight curfew, didn’t mind too much, and liked seeing the more sultry, seductive side of his friends. It was just another angle on their multiple personalities.

And tonight was no different. The crowd was packed with adults, each with an arm around their partner, and often in small groups. The lights were lowered and the neon accents around the room glowed softly, music gently playing under conversation. Kid approached the table meekly, hands on his backpack straps, head down.

“Hey kid,” Bud smiled, the gang’s eyes already on him.

“Hey,” he replied softly.

“Well, come on and have a seat,” Mac offered, he and Bud scooting over. But Kid didn’t move, just stayed where he was and kept his head down.

“Kid,” Guy addressed, his tone drawing the boy’s blue eyes up, “we’re all idiots. Incredibly handsome idiots, but idiots. If you think you need to apologize, sit on it.”

“And,” Mac quickly added, “if you want an apology, we’re sorry. We really are, kid.”

“Yeah, we are!” Bud confirmed. “We’ve been trying to think of how to make it up to you all week, and as soon as tonight is over, we promise we will.”

Ninja Brian was then there, clamping one hand around Kid’s shoulder. He nodded and shook one fist. Kid let a small smile slip out, and he nodded. “Thanks, Brian, guys.”

“Now get in here and get ready for the show,” Guy waved Kid into the mix, scooting himself to give the boy more room.

“And don’t think you have to apologize to us for anything,” Bud instructed as Kid sat next to him. “I mean that. We are the adults here, we really ought to act like it, and if we don’t, then that’s on us, not you.”

"You're under our protection, that's what Danny said," Mac added. "But we'd hate to see you get all beat up anyway, so from now on, we'll do better. We swear it." The others pounded the air with one fist and then bumped the chest of their closest neighbor with it twice, kissing the knuckles, and flashed a piece sign. Even Ninja Brian did the same, bumping his fist on Kid’s chest, explaining that he did it for Danny as well.

Kid offered a shy smile at the kind men. They grinned, satisfied, and turned their attention back to the rink.

“What’re we waiting for? Danny’s skating tonight, isn’t he?”

“Sure is,” the youthful man next to him nodded. “Him and that viper woman from the Gators. It’s a head to head couple’s skate off.”

“Sounds brutal.”

“It’s what Danny lives for.”

This kind of dance was not what Danny lived for. Normally, yes, but not like this. Not between his friends and the woman he had completely lost his mind over. So much was at stake in this dance, he had let things go entirely too far. His goons, Ninja Brian, being taunted into an all-out brawl? The ex-leader of the challenging gang begging him to lose so they would stay together forever? Their little gremlin getting pulverized right under their noses? Loosing the Moonlight?

It was hard, but he tried to relax his shoulders, let the music groove through his body and shake out the nerves and kinks. He had promised he’d give Kristin his very best, but wondered if that was the best for himself as a living, breathing, loving, human.

He had to pull out all stops. He had to go all out. He had to use the powers his father, the Demigod of Fate, had given him. He had to seduce his lover back to him. Maybe then he could win all around. Convince her to leave the Gators and stay with him after winning the Moonlight. At least, it was the only way he could see out of this with his heart fully intact.

Finally, it was his cue, and he and Kristin slid into the rink at opposite ends, the lights dimming to a faint blue, soft spotlights catching various points on the floor. The sequins of his flare-legged and capped unitard glittered, and the red and white Star of David on his core almost glowed. Danny the Cool Patrol leader and leather-wearing brawler was somewhere else, left back in the changing room. Danny Sexbang was there and flowing with magic.

 _“Ladies and gentlemen, in the final challenge between the Cool Patrol and the Gator Skaters, battling in a head-to-head couple’s dance off, winner take all, it’s Danny Sexbang and Kristin Laters, singing and skating to ‘_ Your Love _’ by the The Outfield.”_

Danny filled the cavity of his entire body with a deep breath, shaking his hands out. _Help me Avi_.

Pushing off the wall, he sang the first words, descending gracefully, albeit unfortunately, into the magical half-demigod-half-man that was Danny Sexbang. And his powers worked, of course. They had never failed him before.

By the end of the dance, while softly singing the final lyrics, Danny and Kristin approached each other slowly. All at once they sprinted and collided with each, kissing passionately and desperately. In their seats, the Cool Patrol slowly stopping their clapping, frowning. Kristin pulled at Danny while their lips danced feverishly, tugging at his curls, the shoulder straps of his unitard, and the knife she suddenly held slid through the fabric of his unitard with a yank, tearing the Star in half.

Kristin looked up at him from where she held the blade against his core. On her lips, she felt his breath stop, watched the blood drain from his face, and tried to commit the glistening in his terrified, betrayed eyes to memory. His knees buckled, and Danny hit the floor, quiet and unconscious.

“Danny!” his friends cried in unison. The song stopped like a record scratching, the lights switching on while hands appeared from every direction, seizing the Cool Patrol and pinning them down. Kristin eyed them hungrily, stepping over Danny and skating to the wall.

“Your illustrious leader, ‘Danny Sexbang’,” she mocked the name, venom dripping from her tone, “has failed to complete the routine and so, according to the rules of the challenge, has forfeited his attempt to the opposition, which is me.”

The goons gave an angry shake of their shoulders, trying to wrestle out of the hands that grabbed them. “You lose, Cool Patrol,” she smiled.

Brian, his anger radiating from his body like electricity, flung a smoke bomb onto the ground and vanished, Kid taking the chance to scramble away from the grasp on his shoulders, the others amping up their struggles to allow him the advantage.

Brian reappeared in the center of the rink over Danny’s body, and knelt by it, but Kristin flung herself at him, attacked with a furry of stabs with her knife. The ninja was driven away from his companion, Brian stabbing and slicing at the woman that he decided was a much bigger threat than originally assumed. While they fought and left the body unguarded, Kid pulled himself over the wall, running for Danny. He rounded the body and knelt by the man’s still form, shaking his shoulder desperately.

“Danny? Danny!” Then, the boy heard a grunt, and his head snapped up, seeing a pair of Gators coming for him. Standing, Kid readied himself and ducked under the first swing, grabbing the next fist in his hands and heaving, throwing the man over his shoulder and half way down the rink, sure he had broken something somewhere between the man’s wrist and shoulder. While the other Cool Patrol goons finally broke loose and turned on their captors in a blood-thirsty brawl, Kid tried to duck the next Gator’s blow but stumbled backwards, the Gator grabbing past his kicking legs and seizing his Oxford by the handfuls, pulling him up. Kid stood and drove both open palms into the man’s chest, the force driving the man backwards up the rink on his rear. Panting, Kid shook his hands and turned back to Danny, Ninja Brian quickly at his side. He rolled Danny unto his back, a jolt of panic locking the ninja’s muscles when he saw the sliced Star. But now was not the time for panic, and he waved at the boy, who stooped and pulled one of Danny’s arms around his shoulders. Together, they stood him up, Brian taking his weight while Kid moved ahead, clearing the way of any Gators.

They pulled Danny out of the ring and Brian snapped his fingers, motioning Kid’s attention to the other Cool Patrol goons.

“Hey guys!” he called, “MOVE IT!” the goons seemed to hear him and began making their way to the front door, Kid returning to his duties of flattening anyone who stood between them and the exit.

They finally made it outside, tumbling through the door and down the steps. Brian tossed the keys to Kid, who handed them to the first Cool Patrol goon that scrambled out the door after them. Bud took Danny’s other arm, his height more matched with the taller man, reliving some of the strain on Brian, who continued to drag his unconscious friend to the van that bumped up on the curb to gather them up. Guy helped pull Danny into the back of the van and Kid took the shotgun seat after slamming the doors closed after the party. Mac floored the van and it lunged off the curb, speeding out the parking lot while Gators filled the parking lot after them, Kristin pushing to the front of the group. She smirked as the van disappeared around the corner.


	5. Jasmine and Sage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos lovely people!
> 
> This is the point when Danny starts to move a little OOC, but I hope circumstances can justify it.

Danny remained unconscious all night, completely unresponsive to his terrified friends. They changed him into his silk kimono, tucked him into his luscious bed, and tried all of Brian’s bitter smelling salts, but he remained quiet and still.

Brian made himself busy with tending to the various wounds of the goons, and Kid helped him in any way he could, the others sometimes translating for the tired ninja. Eventually, when the sky was darkest right before the sun rose, Kid had dosed off beside Danny’s bed, the other goons all half asleep, crashing in various places around the home after their explosive night. Brian, having cleaned up the house and washed his weapons and utensils, made his way quietly to Danny’s room, sitting in the corner behind the boy, who slept with a ghost of a frown on his face.

Roughly six hours after dawn, Danny woke up with a sharp gasp, sitting up on his elbows while blinking the sleep from his eyes. Kid was the first person he saw, slumped over the edge of his bed, a small armful of Danny’s blankets gathered under his head like a pillow. Poor kid was going to be brutally sore when he woke up.

“Brian!” Danny chirped, the ninja stepping to the bedside, examining him with sharp eyes. “I had the weirdest dream… Well,” he giggled as the boy stirred, pulling his heavy head off the blankets and blinking up at the smiling man, “good morning, Kid.”

“You’re awake!” Kid exclaimed, stumbling to Danny’s other side on numb legs. “Are you alright?”

“I had a crazy dream,” Danny mumbled, swinging his legs off the bed. “I dreamt we owned a roller rink and then got challenged by these giant alligators to take it away in a dance off, and Kid here was a superhero who turned them all into leather boots and called himself ‘Da-Boots’.”

Kid frowned, looking at Brian. The ninja shrugged while Danny stood. With a yelp, the man slipped, landing hard on the floor, legs flying out from under him.

“Danny!” Kid yelped, hurrying around the bed, the door opening and the three goons entering, alarmed.

On the floor, Danny looked at the roller skates on his feet. “Ninja Brian,” he called, the ninja pulling him up and back onto the bed, “I’m going to have to pay for these, you know.” Brian dropped him on the bed and Danny bounced a few times, tossing his hair from his face as he eyed the surrounding goons, complete with various injuries and defeated expressions. “It … wasn’t a dream, was it?”

“It wasn’t,” Guy reported first.

“We, uh, lost the Moonlight last night,” Bud squirmed.

“It wasn’t your fault though,” Mac quickly added.

“Of course it wasn’t,” Danny shrugged, untying his skates, “because I’m almost completely positive that we didn’t actually lose the Moonlight. Not for good. All we need to do is saunter back there, sing some sultry melodies and shake our groovy hips and _voila_ , the place is ours again!”

Parting the crowd to get to his closet, Danny flung the doors open, scanning the kimonos and various Sexbang outfits. Each outfit, the gang realized as he shuffled through the selection, was missing the iconic Star. “Ninja Brian,” Danny turned to teasingly scold the ninja, “where is my Sexbang?”

Brian squirmed and handed him the blue material, Danny taking it and opening the front, frowning at the sliced Star. Dropping it slowly, his brown eyes lifted, staring at some distant spot across the room. It was like he was frozen in silver.

“It was all real,” he breathed.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light across Danny’s chest and the white and red Star flew off the uniform, spinning in the center of the room and tilting upwards to face the curly haired man. The Star thinned into a tight line, almost like it was scowling at Danny.

“ _Danny_ ,” the Star spoke, “ _you’ve got some ‘splainin to do!”_

The goons, and Kid, all stared at the talking circled of fabric, and at the heavily accented voice that came from it. That it spoke with? Danny sighed, rolling his shoulders.

“Hey, Avi. Cool Patrol, Kid, _Avi Infinity_ , Demigod of Fate, and my dad.”

 _“I am, but after what you did, I’m not sure I want to be that anymore!”_ the Star shrieked.

“Oh come on, Avi,” Danny groaned, tossing the blue material aside, “aren’t I a little old for you to be bringing all that up again?”

 _“You aren’t old enough to listen to your father it seems!”_ Frowning, Danny curled his face in confusion, looking at Brian, who shrugged. _“I told you, Danny, not to use your powers on the enemy! Against the enemy, that is okay, but never_ on, _Danny! I told you this, did I not tell you this?”_

Danny searched his own memory for the instruction, and wiggled his head in a frown when he didn’t find anything. “No….”

_“I – yes I did! I sent a messenger a week ago! Or sometime ‘bout a week ago, I didn’t really remember.”_

Straightening with realization, Danny turned, eyeing the body Brian had stuffed in his closet. “Brian!” he scolded, turning on the ninja with a glare. Brian looked around himself, then shrugged innocently. “Avi,” Danny addressed the voice, “I didn’t get that message! There’s the body, see for yourself! I’ve told you to start sending your armored messengers, Brian keeps murdering the rest.”

_“The message, Danny, read the message!”_

Sighing, Danny stooped over the body and rummaged through the pockets. “Oh geez Brian, you couldn’t cut off the head completely, could you?” Finally, he found the message, a tiny scroll, and stood, presenting it to the Star. “This one?”

_“……………Yes.”_

“Wonderful…” Danny unrolled the tiny parchment and cleared his throat, skimming the words. “Hah! Hah! It says right here, ‘Danny, do not use your powers on the enemy Gators, least of all the leader, she will be your undoing’. Well, guess what, Avi? Kristin, isn’t the leader, she told me so herself!”

_“Did she?”_

Danny shut his mouth and straightened. “Uh, yes? Yes! She said she couldn’t skate with them anymore because she had a guilty conscious, and I when I asked her if she was kicked out of the team, she said – she never actually said that she wasn’t the leader anymore, did she? Balls! Avi, she tricked me, that’s not fair, this one isn’t on me. Besides, I never got this message, you can see that, you saw it was unopened!”

 _“ENOUGH!”_ Suddenly, the room grew dark, the doors and windows shutting out any outside light. The group looked around in panic, wondering just what this apparent demigod would do to them. _“DANNY, TWICE NOW YOU HAVE NEGLECTED YOUR HERITAGE AND LOST RIGHTS TO YOUR INHERITANCE! YOU WERE ONCE THE GREATEST AMONG US ALL, SINGLE HANDEDLY CHANGING THE COURSE OF FATE AND DESTINY, BUT YOU FORSOOK IT ALL FOR … FOR THIS! AND NOW YOU HAVE LOST THAT AS WELL. I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU, DANNY.”_

“Avi – Dad, please! You knew that the old ways totally blew! I showed you a new rhythm, I thought you understood that! That’s why you gave me your blessing!”

_“I GAVE IT TO YOU SO YOU WOULD NOT BECOME A COMPLETE WASTE TO THIS NAME AND TO THIS LEGACY! AND YOU HAVE MISUSED IT! YOU’VE VIOLATED THIS SACRED TRUST, DANNY! I HAVE NO CHOICE, I MUST STRIP-”_

“NOO!” the groups shrieked in unison.

_“STRIP YOU OF ALL THAT YOU HAVE STOLEN, AND ALL THAT YOU HAVE ABUSED! I MUST TAKE BACK EVERYTHING I HAD ONCE BLESSED, AND RECLAIM YOU FROM THIS REALM-”_

Suddenly, Brian was between the two, arms out, and glaring so hard at the disk his eyes started throbbing.

 _“Brian,”_ the voice addressed and Brian straightened, daring the demigod to challenge him.

_“You know Ninja Brian... I don’t like you. But of all the mortals that Danny has met on this realm, I don’t like you the least. For your sake, and all you’ve done for our service, I’ll leave Danny with you, in this realm, to learn his lesson. But a lesson he must learn nonetheless!”_

From behind the group, Danny growled, shouting at the voice. “SCREW YOU, OLD MAN!”

Then, another flash of light, blinding the mass. As it faded and the fabric floated gently to the bed, Avi’s voice echo through the room.

_“My blessing, Danny, you have lost…”_

It took everyone a second to recover from the cataclysmic event that had just taken place in their quiet little town.

“What, the heck, just happened?” Bud asked, the group turning to the man behind them.

“You’re a demi-god?” Guy questioned.

“No!” Danny answered, grabbing Kid’s wrist and dragging him out of the room. “Half. My father, Avi, _he’s_ a demi-god. You ever wondered why I’ve got these skills that totally rock your mortal standards?”

Reaching the driveway, Danny tossed the boy at the minivan, who quickly backed against it. “Lift,” Danny instructed, the others assembling behind him.

“What?” Kid panted, rubbing his wrist.

“You’ve got super-powers! You can fly, you can throw cars over your shoulder, super sight, all that stuff. So lift the van! Throw it if you want!”

Squirming, uncomfortable with the whole thought of putting his powers on display, Kid turned and grabbed the front bumper, lifting. Nothing happened and he fell to his knees, hitting the grill with his face.

“Kid!” Bud called from the back of the group while Danny immediately set to pacing, taking fistfuls of his curls between his fingers.

“I think I pulled something,” Kid groaned, standing with Brian’s help.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay….” Danny was mumbling. Finally, he stopped, and spun around, facing the goons. “What’m I worried about? I’m freaking Danny Y. Sexb---! Sexb---!” Feeling his throat, Danny looked to Brian in panic. Brian held his gaze and produced a tuning fork, tapping it on the boy’s green hair. Danny tried to match the note but fell flat, and then he tried again and aimed incredibly too high. Then, it hit him. Maybe he _had_ messed up, and his father _was_ serious. Danny turned away from the group and yelped as his feet flung out from underneath him, sending him to his back on the driveway. Taking a deep breath, Danny thrusted his fists into the air, crying at the heavens.

“NOOO-!”

Then, he coughed, rolling onto his side.

“Ugh- eh – _my lungs_!”

\--------------------------------------------------------

Monday came and went, and Kid didn’t bother going to the Moonlight after school. He couldn’t stand the thought of the place in the hands of the Gators, there had been talk all around the school about the switch of power, and the boy would rather check on the others after everything that happened over the weekend then return to their stolen property.

He pushed Danny and Brian’s front door open, thudding it right into Guy.

“Hey kid,” the man muttered, out of his leather and sunglasses. Kid frowned, stepping back to let the man through the door.

“Sup, Kid,” Bud greeted next, following Guy out, also lacking his leather and sunglasses.

“Hi, Kid,” Mac smiled weakly, holding the door open for the boy to enter after he cleared the way.

“What’s going on?” Kid asked, stepping halfway through the door.

“We’re heading home,” Guy reported, crossing his arms.

“Danny sent us,” Bud shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. “Disbanded the Cool Patrol, said we aren’t cool anymore, which is true, I guess.”

“Danny said we had better lives waiting for us,” Mac added.

“Serves him too,” Bud muttered. “Lying to us about everything.”

“He didn’t lie to us,” Guy corrected.

“Well he certainly didn’t tell us,” the youthful man snapped. Guy threw his hands up and turned, walking away.

“Careful in there, Kid,” Mac cautioned, following the others down the drive way. “It’s like a funeral in there.”

“Hey Kid, you walk all the way here?” Guy called.

“I can’t fly anymore,” the boy reported. Waving goodbye to the goons, he ducked inside, not particularly wanting to continue the conversation. How he knew he no longer had his powers when he barely ever used them to begin with wasn’t entirely clear to him, but the prospect of investigating the idea wasn’t very appealing.

Inside the house, Brian was sat, crossed legged in the middle of the floor, staring dead ahead.

“Meditating?” Kid asked, dropping his backpack by the door. The ninja looked at him and studied the boy, a slight frown on his face, scanning for new injuries, which there were. “I lost my powers,” Kid shrugged, walking to the dark form. Brian dropped the pose and took the boy’s shoulder as he sat by the ninja, giving it a little squeeze. Kid offered him a small smile, Brian nodding at him and pointing his eyes back forward, balancing the back of his hands on his knees. Like most of the other men, Brian was affectionate and friendly with the boy, but his silence almost made him even more so. There was something especially endearing about Kid’s friendship with the ninja, probably because the man was a ruthless killer who would slice another man’s throat without a thought, but often took the time to encourage and check on the boy. The kid almost considered him a like a teacher, while the others were like family friends, or distant relatives. Uncles or cousins maybe. “At least you’re still yourself,” he sighed, standing. “Is Danny in his room? Can I go see him?”

Brian looked up to the boy and nodded again, pointing to the door, like he was imploring Kid to visit his house-mate. Kid sighed and did so. Considering the conversation the goons had just had outside, he wasn’t too eager to see what state the cursed man was in.

The bedroom was quiet and dark. Danny was inside on his bed, rolled onto his side among the wrinkled and disheveled blankets. His kimono was just as untidy, and his face was dark and still. The lights in the room were lowered, allowing for the glow of various candles and incense sticks to illuminate in small pinpricks of light. Filling the room like a gentle cloud was the music, which was sad, defeated, and almost melancholy.

“Hey, Danny,” the boy smiled, taking a seat on the carpet, leaning against the wall, both men in full view of the other.

“Hey,” Danny replied, a glimmer of a smile in his powerless voice.

“What is with that smell?” Kid reached to the bedside table to inspect one of the incense sticks.

“Incense,” Danny replied, aiming his eyes at the sticks in Kid’s touch. “Jasmine, Ylang-ylang, stuff like that. Old ancient soothing and healing scents.”

“Smells like my Granny,” the boy teased, retracting his hand from the incense. “In a good way. You could choke on all the flowers she always kept in her house.” Danny chuckled and Kid smiled. He decided that conversation might be best for the depressed man, so he kept chatting, keeping his words light and playful. Over time, Danny seemed to meld into the rhythm of the conversation like any song he listened to, and it slowly lifted his spirits. Not by much, but enough that his giggles glittered again.

Eventually, he was sitting up in bed, still slouched against the headboard with his knees drawn up, but he wasn’t lifelessly sprawled out anymore. Kid had also moved to the bed, and was sitting on the edge, legs crossed under him, ever mindful of the man’s personal space. Then, Danny spoke.

“Kid – Kid?”

“Yeah?” the boy lowered his hands, waiting.

“Don’t got around the Moonlight anymore,” Danny instructed, his voice quiet and level. This wasn’t a command, it was a caring tale of caution, based on the boy’s new bruises Danny hadn’t yet commented on. “You’ve lost your powers and the Cool – the guys aren’t there to keep an eye on you anymore.”

Smiling, Kid blushed. “Will it help you feel better?”

“Heck yeah it will,” the life in Danny’s voice returned for a quick moment, a small flash, “it’s one less thing I have to worry about, and I worry about most things. Everything. Consider it an act of mercy, for my sanity.”

“Sure,” Kid chucked sadly, “I can do that.”

He left the bedroom not knowing how long he had been in there, but when Danny had gone quiet after their exchange, Kid understood the signs that he was ready to be alone. Being hit by the clean, unscented air of the hallway was a brief shock, but he shook it off. His clothes were going to smell like incense for days. Ninja Brian was in the kitchen making sandwiches. He addressed the boy with his blue eyes when he entered with a yawn.

“What time is it?” he checked the clock on the oven, realizing he’d only been in there for about three hours. “I need t’go home.” Brian handed him a sandwich, which was wrapped in a paper towel. “Thanks,” Kid chuckled, taking it. Brian, however, didn’t move, and when Kid finally looked at him, he motioned to the bedroom. “He’s, uh… he’s drained. Ready to be alone for a while.” Brian nodded, then gestured to his ear. “The music? Yeah, it was going the whole time. Incense and candles too. I don’t think they were doing his mood any good, though, but he said something about old healing scents or something, so I guess they might.” Brian shook his head and tapped his temple while blocking his heart with one palm, motioning to Danny. Kid understood. He had already picked up on that possibility himself while talking to the normally witty, up-beat man. This was more than emotional, it was mental. Of course, had his father just called him a disgrace to the family name and stripped him of everything he identified as, everything that he was proudest of, everything that made him him, he’d probably lock himself in his room too. He took a bite of the sandwich. “I don’t know what to say, Bri. You know him best. But … I gotta get home. Thanks for the sandwich.” Brian nodded as the boy made his way to the front door. One hand on the handle, he paused. “Brian? I’m sorry, man. I wish I could do more.”

Brian placed one open palm over his heart and gave a slow nod, the kid turning and mirroring the action. “Later.”


	6. Picking up the Pieces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was actually the first chapter of this fic I wrote, and is still one of my favorites. We get some binding time between Kid and our favorite Goons! (At least two of them)

Kid was more drained from his afternoon with Danny than he realized. He was quieter than normal the next day, and even his thoughts seemed more sluggish. He recovered that evening though, able to spend it at home, and the next day was a little easier. Pretty soon, it had been almost a full week since he’d last seen any member of the now extinct Cool Patrol, and was starting to get into the rhythm of going straight home every night instead of the Moonlight Rollerway.

But that didn’t mean he enjoyed it. He certainly didn’t like being scared away from the only place he enjoyed going in the whole town, and he definitely didn’t enjoy the sudden loneliness. Sure, the Cool Patrol hadn’t been the best friends for him, and after everything that happened he saw that more clearly than ever, but they were his friends, and his only friends. The last time he had seen them, they were leaving Danny and Brian’s house, so scared and defeated they were willing to turn on their own leader, and each other. And the last time he had seen said leader, the man was … he didn’t want to say “depressed,” that word got thrown around too much as it was, but Danny certainly wasn’t healthy, emotionally or mentally. And Kid wondered if the sensitive man even knew how to process such shock and grief. But he did have Ninja Brian there, and the ninja seemed to know a whole lot more about the whole thing than any of them did. In the end, however, it was hard not knowing how he had fared all week.

Suddenly, it was the weekend. Well, not suddenly, but it did seem to come out of nowhere. Sick of being locked inside all week, Kid decided to stroll around town. Besides, he had some errands to run.

And the bullies were waiting for him. Apparently, they lacked all respect for the weekend.

The first shop Kid saw was the gym, so he ducked inside it, hoping some big body builder would have pity and scare the thugs away. And if not, he could always hide behind one of them. Knowing the population of Midburn, there had to be several massive men there working out.

The bell dinged as the bullies entered, asking the front desk if they had seen a green-haired kid. They hadn’t of course, Kid was good at ducking under desks and around corners, but the bullies entered to look around anyway. Kid surveyed the population of the gym and began to panic. There were no body builders in sight, just the normal young adult who liked to look good. Quickly taking his backpack off, he hid behind a stack of dumbbells, hoping the gray of his hoodie, black of his t-shirt, faded jeans, or black sneakers wouldn’t immediately give him away. And especially not a flash of his neon green hair.

“Kid?” a familiar voice addressed, and Kid turned, keeping on his knees.

“Guy?” he frowned quietly, the man looking at him and, recognizing the cowering position, looked around the room. Right on cue, the two bullies came into sight. Guy swore under his breath and dropped his weight, standing.

“What do you turkey-gizzards want in here?” he asked, crossing muscular arms. “You don’t have a membership.”

Kid frowned. How can two people be _that_ ripped and not have a membership at the only gym in town? Was everyone in Midburn just naturally muscular and intimidating?

“No, we just wanted to scope out the area,” they replied. Kid could hear them craning their necks to try to find him. He folded in more tightly on himself, closing his eyes. At least if they made a mad dash for him he’d have Guy to warn him.

“I don’t care what you’re doing in here,” Guy growled. “Get out.”

“Hey man, you got a problem?” one bully shoved the shorter man.

“Yeah,” Guy snarled, straightening, “with your general ‘tude. To keep it simple, I don’t like bullies, no matter how big, how ugly, or how stupid. So, I’m going to tell you one more time: get out of my gym.”

One meat head laughed, and then the other. Kid heard movement and looked up, seeing other men all rise and move towards the action. He poked his head over the top of the shelves of dumbbells, watching.

“Hey, there he is!” one bully exclaimed, pointing at him. Kid quickly ducked, inwardly cursing the green curls that sprouted from his scalp. He heard the bullies dash at him, and then the strange sound of a scuffle, skin on skin. When it settled, he looked back up. The bullies had somehow moved about ten feet backwards. “Yo, let us do what we came for, and we’ll leave. We ain’t here to start anything.”

“Cut the crap,” Guy stepped forward, the other buff men flanking his either side. “I know exactly why you’re here, and I’m going to tell you exactly what I intend to do about it. Then, I’m going to tell you exactly what will happen if I ever catch wind of either of you pulling this kind of bull again.” Cutting from formation, Guy walked to Kid and offered his hand, pulling him up. “This kid here, your plaything?” He put one arm around Kid’s shoulders, gripping them. “Not anymore.” Dropping his arm, Guy stalked forward, pointing to the bullies. “I’m not sure what I hate more, the fact that you get your kicks from beating on some scrawny kid or the fact that you think – you _expect_ others to just turn their backs and let it happen. Well guess what? You’re in _my_ gym now, where _I_ set the rules. And everything about _you_ is breaking just about every single one of _them_.” Stopping, he took a sniff in their direction and straightened, crossing his arms. “No, you’re breaking all of them.”

Kid snorted, covering the action with his hand when the two glared at him.

Guy took one large step forward, closing the space between himself and the two bigger man quickly. “If you ever set one foot in here again, or touch that boy again, I’ll know about it. And I don’t care if you’re bigger, stronger, or more stupid. I will _not_ hesitate to come after you both, one on one or together. You forget you’re talking to the leader of the Cool Patrol goons here. Know why I’m the leader?” A pause, and they shook their heads. “Because no one sees the quiet ones coming.”

Kid groaned and he face-palmed himself. “Tough Guy’s Gym”. The ex-Cool Patrol goon’s name was literally in the name of the gym. It was the name. Guy must actually own it.

“Now get out of my gym.” Guy circled back and planted a hand on Kid’s shoulder. “This kid _remains_ under Cool Patrol protection.”

The bullies hissed, but nonetheless moved for the door. Letting himself relax for the first time all day, Kid smiled up at Guy and various other patrons, who ambled back to their workouts.

“Thanks,” he followed Guy to the bench he had been sitting on a few minutes ago, “they would have had me for lunch.”

Guy began to curl a dumbbell the size of Kid’s head. “Is this what it’s usually like for you? Running into random buildings to avoid those meat heads?”

Kid blushed, and began to study the dumbbells beside him. “Not always, not if I stay on my route to and from school. If I leave the beaten path, they beat me.”

“Catchy,” Guy replied, standing and moving to another machine that looked to the kid like it was designed to press shoe leather.

“Their slogan, not mine.”

“What did you ever do to tick them off?” Guy studied the boy as he began to press two bars together across his chest, his arms and chest bulging under the strain. The kid just shrugged.

“Well, you’ve seen me every other day of the week. I’m pale as my shirt, I live in knickers, and-”

“You say things like ‘knickers’?” Guy questioned.

“I’m new to town. Guess they don’t like strangers in this little town of yours.” At this, the machine stopped whining.

Guy looked the kid over. Sure, he was shrimpy and small, and the button-down Oxford and unmarked Tube socks he almost lived in were not exactly threatening, but he looked like the kind of kid that would carry your groceries for you. The kid was squirming under Guy’s gaze, something the older man noted. He and Guy were friends, ever member of the Cool Patrol was chums with the awkward high schooler, but his cheeks still dotted with pink while being inspected. Maybe that’s why he cared so much about his clothes being straight and wrinkle free. The kid was being harassed by grown men just because he was new to town, _and_ he was in high school. Guy hadn’t stepped foot in the Midburn High School in years, but he bet they still followed a strict dress code. And this kid was new. Something about him attracted everyone’s attention. It was no wonder he always felt like he was under a microscope.

“You look fine to me,” Guy said. Kid frowned up at him quickly. “Uh, I mean you look like most other high schoolers. Look, it’s no secret that Midburn isn’t exactly the largest town in a fifty-mile radius, but I don’t think you’ve been purposefully drawing attention to yourself. I think everything you’ve been doing to not do that is exactly why you’re on everyone’s watch list.”

Kid’s eyebrows wrinkled as he considered what Guy had said. He was kind of surprised to hear him say so much at once. Guy was usually the “strong, silent” member of the Cool Patrol. Well, aside from Ninja Brian, who frankly, Kid wasn’t sure was a member anyway.

“Uh, thanks,” he tried, seeing how the response would taste. Guy seemed satisfied.

“One more tip: if you want to avoid big burly guys, the gym isn’t really the best place for that.”

Kid picked up on the cue to leave and took it. “Thanks, again.” Grabbing his backpack, he slung it over one shoulder and headed for the front door, hoping the two lugnuts who followed him around wouldn’t be waiting for him. Of course, Guy was pretty intimidating when he wanted to be, and Kid considered him a friend. The front door hissed with a blast of humid air when he opened it.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Mac was the next Cool Patrol member Kid ran into, sometime into the next school week. The dark-haired man with a soft smile called his name.

“Hey Kid, here’s your dry-cleaning.” Kid frowned at the man as he crossed the small tiled room and approached the counter.

“What’re you doing here?”

Mac handed him his clothes. “I work here, silly! You think they let just anyone behind the counters to mess with people’s clothes?”

Shaking his head, Kid dug in his pockets for a tip. “No, I just never noticed you before. How long have you been working here?”

“Since you’ve been bringing clothes here to get cleaned,” Mac smiled, leaning on the counter. “That’s four white Oxfords and three pairs of khaki shorts, by the way.”

Kid nodded. “That sounds right. How come I’ve never noticed you?”

Mac shrugged his soft shoulders and wrote the ticket. “Well, you’re usually over there in the corner with your nose in some book. Here you go. What’re you reading anyway?”

“Homework stuff,” Kid sighed, swapping the ticket for a crumpled tip. “Take it. Consider it an apology for never noticing you before.”

Mac took the money, albeit reluctantly. “That stinks. The homework part, I mean. They give you so much that you’ve got to work on it at the dry-cleaners?”

“No, but I was usually down the at the Moonlight every evening, so I never had the time.”

“Well,” Mac straightened, stretching his arms behind his back and cracking his knuckles, “you don’t have to worry about that anymore. Hey, here’s a tip for _you_ : start washing any … stains in your Oxfords in cold water first, then give them a real gentle scrub. That way you won’t have to pay for the double washing.”

Kid looked at the Oxfords hanging over his shoulder, blushing at the thought of Mac double washing his school clothes to get the blood stains out. “Right. Sorry.” Giving Mac a small wave he headed to the doors. “Thanks. I guess I’ll see you later.”

“Same time next week,” Mac grinned. “And kid, do us both a favor and stay away from the Moonlight, alright? I won’t have to double wash your clothes and you can keep your blood inside your body.”


	7. Sugar and Spite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used to work childcare. this chapter brought back some old horror. 
> 
> the horror.

Despite the well-meaning advice of the lovable Mac, Kid went back to the Moonlight the next Friday night. He didn’t buy a nightly pass, of course, which was the first ticket he had ever had to buy since the Cool Patrol marked him “bearer of the Infinity Ticket,” probably because he never actually skated, just to spite Mac. No, a hideously colorful bulletin had leaped off the wall and onto his face as he was heading from Biology to Home Rec. The bulletin advertised, in a color combination the kid considered petitioning to make illegal, the “Newly Envisioned” Moonlight Rollerway, now with “family friendly music, snacks, and the loveable Gus Gator!” Someone had plastered a picture of whom Kid assumed was “Gus Gator” halfway behind the text, and Kid jumped in fright when he saw it. Surely it had to be a crude drawing. The rest of the bulletin wasn’t of the highest quality professional work, per say.

With a roll of his eyes, Kid ripped the bulletin off the wall and crumbled it in a tight ball. He wasn’t letting the gang that cheated his friends out of their roller rink and ruined their lives advertise in his High School. And especially not for free and not with this piece of trash. However, he was curious to see the new changes the Gators boasted about. And since he wasn’t technically a member of the Cool Patrol, he wasn’t technically banned. Kid sighed as he continued walking, trying to shift his backpack to relieve the stress building up between his shoulder blades. Thank God for technicalities.

And thus he had done something, the one thing, that probably would have earned him a weighty, disappointed look from Mac. But he readjusted his shoulder straps and opened the front doors. The first thing that hit him was the wall of noise. The second thing that hit him was the smell.

Their once clean, tidy, and groovy Moonlight Rollerway was now a chaotic mess of screaming, crying, and fighting children, all breathing and sweating within their own humid fog of sugar and what Kid pretended wasn’t the distinct scent of acidic-pizza-sauce-and-Skittles vomit. His shoes stuck to the carpet as he stepped cautiously into the warzone, spotting the pizza bar to his right. The pizza that would usually make his mouth water, especially after a long day of classes, with its light, tangy sauce, thick cheese, and fresh crusts, now looked like a cheap delivery knock-off. Every old combination that he craved, the Pizzadilla (a taco pizza piled high with crisp lettuce), Classic White and Red (thick mozzarella cheese with fresh tomato slices), the Carnivore (every meat legally allowed in America), and his favorite, the Green Thumb (spinach leaves, parmesan cheese, with an olive oil base) had been replaced by red pepperoni, burnt pepperoni, and half-pepperoni half-cheese. And most of that pepperoni ended up in the trash, as the heaping piles of uneaten crusts and flimsy paper plates testified. Most of the soda dispensers had been replaced with sugary beverages, the ice cream freezer was picked clean, and the arcade games on the back wall were covered with sticky fingerprints. Kid cringed at the sight, looking over his shoulder towards the shoe rental counter, which was half hidden behind a growing pile of shoes with hopelessly knotted laces. It was only then that he noticed the music, or rather, the noise that was playing overhead. Kid cupped his ears as he headed for the Cool Patrol’s usual table, trying desperately to block the noise that screeched through his hands.

The table, he quickly noted, was sticky beyond all reason, and smelled like waxy crayons. Even the seats were sticky with invisible stains, the once pristine and cozy red upholstery looked cracked and crinkled under his weight. Kicking something soft at his feet, Kid ducked under the table and found the gang’s old stuffed crown, pulling it free from the table leg. The crown was intact, mostly, and Kid picked wet Skittles from the fur with a grimace. Suddenly, the crown vanished, a freckled boy with a few too many lollipop sticks protruding from his pudgy cheeks placing it on his head, almost taunting the high schooler.

“My crown!” The intelligent life form gloated, and Kid grabbed for it, telling the fat creature to come back. He quickly crawled out of the booth and chased after the kid, running right to the edge of the roller rink, the boy just out of reach. _Something so naturally slow shouldn’t be allowed to wear skates_ , Kid grumbled, watched the boy disappear into the whirlpool at the center of the rink. But he didn’t care, he wanted that crown back! Stepping onto the wood, an arm suddenly grabbed his middle and pulled him back.

“Woah, there! No skates, no skating!” Kid backed away from the voice and bumped into the wall, trapped.

“Bud?” he frowned, recognizing the pretty blond man.

“Kid?” Bud frowned back, tilting his head to one side. Kid eyed his blue collared shirt and green trousers in confusion. Then, his eyes settled on the silver name tag.

“You work here?”

Bud flinched, and looked around. “Come on,” he took the kid’s hand, “you shouldn’t be here!”

\----------------------------------------------

Bud had pulled Kid from the fog of the main room to the heat of the kitchen, and then to the quiet hum of the breakroom, the little TV in the corner displaying the evening news. Kid’s head was still spinning, and his ears were ringing, so Bud had swiped a children size plastic cup for him and filled it with cool water. Kid sat at the small breakroom table, which was littered with napkins from various take out places around town, the cup securely in his hands.

“What are you doing here?” he asked again. “You work here?”

Bud snorted a quick breath of laughter and picked a piece of tomato off his pizza. Apparently, the cooks would still make a few of their old specialty pizzas for the staff to much on so they didn’t waste the ingredients. Bud had told Kid to help himself, but he wasn’t feeling very hungry at the moment. “Why do you think the Cool Patrol would always hang out here of all places? Not like Midburn has many options, but they did have a man on the inside.” Kid decided that maybe he was hungry, and took a slice of pizza while Bud continued. “I work in the day as a waiter, and I was a few weeks away from becoming floor supervisor too. But now that the Gators took over, they’ve got me tossing pizzas, and carrying trash bags that weigh more than I do, and working one, two extra shifts, and for what? To keep up with the demands of the brats out there. I’m not even getting paid overtime.”

Kid put down his pizza slice. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled, taking a drink to swallow the lump in his throat. “That sucks.”

Bud sighed, wiping his hands and wadding up the cheap paper between his palms. “That’s okay, I guess. And hey man, don’t look so down, it’s not your fault! If anyone, it’s Danny’s fault. No, it’s probably more Brian’s fault.” Tossing the napkin to the trashcan in the other corner of the room, Bud cheered when he nailed the shot. “Actually, it’s no one’s fault. Blaming people isn’t going to change anything. And hey, at least everyone is doing their own thing now, right?”

Mumbling while he closed the pizza box, the smell suddenly overwhelming, Kid kept his eyes low. But Bud was always a good talker, which included being a good listener.

“What?”

“I said that I’m not doing my own thing, not anymore. Now, ‘my own thing’ means running from those sausage heads that’re waiting at every turn, and trying to keep my head down while still living somewhat of a life.” Pausing to take another drink, Kid felt encouraged to continue by Bud’s gentle eyes resting on him. “Guy said I’m still under the Cool Patrol’s protection, but that doesn’t mean much when the Cool Patrol is very publicly not around anymore.”

Bud sat back in his metal chair and scoffed. “The Moonlight’s not around anymore, either, that’s for sure. I’m not sure what the Gators consider ‘improvements’, but nothing around here looks like an improvement to me. We never trashed the place, we never wasted food, or got the toilet seats all sticky.”

Frowning, Kid looked up quickly. “How do you get a toilet seat sticky? Nothing’s supposed to touch it but y’r bum.”

Bud gave a large shrug, tossing his hands in the air. “I have no idea! But they do it, they get everything sticky. Sure, maybe the gang attracted a few fights, but good grief, we always left the place better than when we arrived, that was Danny’s code. He was kind of a clean freak like that.” Taking a deep breath, Bud rubbed his face, and sat forward, boney elbows on the table. “I’m telling you, kid, if this place keeps going downhill at the rate it’s going now? There won’t be any Moonlight Rollerway, not for anyone.”

Sitting forward, Kid smacked his plastic cup on the table. It didn’t have the resonance he would have liked, but Bud got the message. “That’s not fair! This is the only good place in town to hang out! Well, used to be. We can’t let it just get trashed like this, we have to do something! We have to win it back!”

Bud laughed. A real, good, genuine laugh that rippled through his skinny body with more energy than Kid thought he had left. For a minute, he thought the older man was laughing at him, but he hadn’t said anything funny. Did Bud think he wasn’t serious? Think he was a joke just because he was a high school kid? Bud finally breathed normally again, putting a hand on his stomach to smooth away cramps. “Man, I am _right_ there with you! But the only way we can do that is with Danny. I don’t know how it works, but the man is pure magic, half demi-god or whatever. Whether you buy into all that stuff or not, it was real. He was like a siren with that voice of his. He sang that you would have super powers, right? ‘You’re practically a super-hero now so throw some cars’, or whatever, right? And what could you do?”

“Throw cars,” Kid answered carefully. It was weird admitting to something like that, even to a friend like Bud, and how casually they discussed his sudden ownership of, indeed, superhero like abilities.

“Exactly! This guy, I don’t know how he does it, did it, guess his father blessed him when he quit the whole ‘first heritage thing’, whatever that means, but man, it’s crazy, _was_ crazy. And we need him back. The only way to get the Moonlight back is with Danny. We don’t stand a chance without him.”


	8. Humiliation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you guys miss Danny? Don't worry, he and Brian are both back in this chapter.

It was about eight’o’clock in the morning when Ninja Brian trudged into the living room, unusually late for him. The ninja was a night-stalker, morning-stalker, and basically preferred to be awake whenever someone else was, and Danny was typically too restless to get much sleep. Last night, however, the roommates had been awake until the early morning watching “Old Yeller” four times in a row. Danny needed to cry; it was the one thing he hadn’t yet tried to get over the shock and heartbreak of his father’s curse, and this movie was the one-way Brian was sure to make it happen. And it had worked; Danny had cried and bawled and hiccuped, and had finally screamed his pent-up emotions out. Sure, Ninja Brian had had to hog tie him to the couch halfway through the second showing and occasionally cuddle him so he started breathing normally again, but Danny had cried, hadn’t he? And now, with some sleep behind him and warm tea on the horizon, he was already returning to his normal self. Without the singing and dancing, of course.

It had been a very hard week for both men, and a very long week. The last time Brian had seen Danny so emotional was on their quest for the Sacred Chalice when their traveling companions had all been killed. But that was almost a life time ago, and Brian had been there with him, they had had each other. Now, Brian was part of the problem. Danny had the weight of his father’s curse on his shoulders, the shock of suddenly losing everything he had ever taken pride in about himself, the hopelessness of losing the Moonlight Rollerway, a place he had actually let himself plant some roots, and the self-hatred for disbanding his friends, losing their trust, all on his shoulders. And then there was the guilt. Had Danny not taken the night off, had he been there like he should have been, maybe the fight wouldn’t have happened. Maybe he wouldn’t have had to duel with his lover. Maybe he – everyone wouldn’t have lost everything.

And there was nothing Brian had done to stop any of this. In fact, he had encouraged it.

Sleeping had become Danny's new life style, and the ninja didn't dare protest. Brian had kept up with the cleaning and cooking, but Danny barely ever ate. He even locked his bedroom door a few times, and no matter how badly Brian wanted to see his friend when he did emerge, just lay his eyes on Danny’s physical form, reassuring himself that Danny still existed and was, more or less, still alive, that his father hadn’t reclaimed him to another realm, he couldn’t see much past the green shade that blossomed under Danny’s cheeks whenever the ninja was in his sight. So, Brian would hide in his room, giving Danny the space he needed to roam the house. Sometimes he’d prepare a meal, sometimes he’d just grab a water bottle, sometimes he’d do a half lap around the house and then return to his room wordlessly, but Brian was always careful to be sure just what his companion was doing, even if he was respecting his space. But after a week of this, of Danny joining him on the couch for some late-night comedy shows and then tearing his room apart in an enraged fury the next afternoon, quite out of nowhere, Brian was done. That was when he decided that he needed to do something. That was when “Old Yeller” happened.

Brian flinched, pulling a pair of nunchucks from his black bathrobe. A green haired figure was curled up on their couch, shoes neatly, but not too neatly, at his side on the floor, and an old, ragged and scratchy blanket bundled around his shoulders. Brian frowned, and opened the curtains. Kid groaned immediately and rolled so he was facing the couch, trying to avoid the light. This made Brian frown even more deeply. Firstly, what was the kid doing on their living room couch? They had a perfectly good guest bed upstairs that was, technically, Brian’s, but he never used it. Secondly, why was he acting like he had a hangover? Did he have a hangover? Or worse, did he have a concussion? Thirdly, why was the kid there? In their house? This place was several miles from the center of town, and was down endless turns and subdivisions. It was the kind of house the people always forgot was there. Brian liked it that way.

“Kid?” Danny croaked as he stepped next to Brian, not fully shaking his dry morning voice. The kid groaned in response and rolled onto his back, peeking one eye open and aiming his blurry vision in Danny’s direction, Danny’s wrinkled purple kimono making his vision swim. Brian noted that he didn’t seem to have any black eyes or visible scrapes among his short hair, and he moved okay. Well, okay enough for someone who just slept on a couch.

“What are you doing here?” Danny asked, picking up the kid’s backpack absently from the recliner. It wasn’t too heavy. The kid must not have come straight from school. But it did have a putrid, sugary and acidic smell to it. Brian captured Danny’s attention and pointed to his head. “A hangover? You’ve got a hangover? What the funk?”

\----------------------------------

In no less than ten minutes, the kid was seated at the duo’s dining table, Danny offering him some warm tea and sitting across from him. Brian tried to wrap the blanket around the kid’s shoulders, but he shrugged it off.

“S’okay, Brian, I don’t actually have a hangover. I just feel like I do…” Suddenly, Brian was before the boy, staring deeply into the startled blue eyes. Kid stared back, confused and concerned, and Danny rolled his eyes.

“Brian, he said he doesn’t have a hangover.” Brian looked at him. “And no, he doesn’t have a concussion. Do you?”

“What?” Kid slurred, lowering his cup from his lips.

“See Brian, no concussion. Now why don’t you start on breakfast, it’s practically noon.” Tossing one more glance between the two, Brian stalked away, ripping the fridge open. “So,” Danny began, leaning forward so his boney elbows were on the edge of the table, “mind telling me what you are doing several miles out of town on the couch of two thirty-something-year-old men with what closely resembles a hangover?”

“S’not a hangover,” Kid grumbled, his throat soothed and tongue partially numbed by the tea. What kind of tea was this, anyway?

“Really? Then what is it? You get migraines a lot?”

“No, it’s not a migraine. It’s just like a … a second-hand hangover.” The kid stumbled over his words, unsure how to describe the buzz that had settled behind his ears.

“Where did you go last night that gave you a second-hand hangover?” Danny asked, brows wrinkling in worry and confusion. The kid almost blushed. Here he was, sitting in the living room of two men that were almost old enough to be his father, plus a few thousand years, drinking tea and being interrogated about his headache. Anyone else would have called him crazy, or called the police, and he certainly wouldn’t have entertained the idea himself had this living room belonged to anyone else but Danny and Brian. The two seemed, for their own credit, just as concerned and confused as he was, and were determined to make him feel better, safe, and welcomed, while also getting to the puzzling truth. Had he been a few years younger, he would have asked them to adopt him. “You cramming for mid-terms with the wrong people?”

The kid definitely blushed at that. Danny had this great charm of dancing on the line between father and friend, a responsibility Kid could see him take very seriously. “No, nothing like that. I got it at … uh, the Moonlight last night.”

“WHAT?” Danny jerked back in his seat, nearly spilling his tea with the sudden movement. “The Moonlight is serving alcohol now?!” Brian joined his side quickly, a flower-patterned apron tied around his bathrobe, a bowl of waffle mix in his hands.

“No – no! They aren’t serving alcohol. Still the old pizza and pop. But their new audience is, uh, you just have to see if for yourselves.”

Danny and Brian swapped a concerned look.

\-----------------------------------------------

It didn’t take them long to get to the Moonlight Rollerway, Danny and Brian both having changed clothes while Kid brushed his teeth and washed his face. Thanks to Brian’s waffles the buzzing had stopped, and he didn’t feel like he had spent his night on a couch, but considering where they were headed, the refreshed feeling probably wouldn’t last. It was Saturday morning, and the parking lot was already filled with minivans.

Whatever fresh wind of chaos had greeted the kid Friday after class, it was nothing compared to the rush of over stimulation that washed over the trio when they walked through the front doors.

“OH MADNESS!” Danny cried, immediately cupping his ears. With Danny’s ear for music and pitch, the Kid wondered with a feeling of guilt just how torturous the place really was for him. It seemed like torture for Brian as well, as the Ninja flinched and trembled at every noise, his blue eyes ablaze as they tried to chase every movement before him at once. “What poor unfortunate sea creature is dying right now?” Danny asked his companions, nearly shouting over the haze of noise.

Suddenly, to Danny’s left, Gus the Gator bounced against him, Danny screaming in terror at the yellow-green foam monstrosity. Kid backed instinctively behind Brian, who had stilled, looking the thing up and down a few times in sheer horror and confusion. Gus laughed some cheesy tagline and then bounced away, his movements as muffled as his words.

“Come on,” Kid called, grabbing Danny’s wrist and pulling him and Ninja Brian further into the madness. The place was a living migraine, and while his friends absorbed all the horrific sights, he focused on steering them through the riverbed of children to their usual table, which was empty at the moment.

By the time they reached it, Danny had dropped his hands from his ears, but had taken the place in with wide, unfocused eyes. Kid figured that for him and Brian, this was like returning to a palace after war had gutted it. Danny had often referred to the Moonlight Rollerway as their palace, so Kid could only image the horror that gripped him.

The waiter neared, greeting them with a hallow, dead voice.

“Hey, welcome to Moonlight Rollerway, I’ll be your server today - can I interest you in the Gator Sampler to start you off with?”

“Bud?!” Danny cried, snapped his zombie-like friend from his over-worked trance. Bud frowned down at them, not immediately recognizing his leader out of his optional leather or blue sequins and in some dark, comfortable civvies. Ninja Brian was behind him on the seat, seeing every trace of exhaustion on Bud’s usually youthful face, and the kid sat behind Brian, giving him an understanding and sympathetic look.

“What are you guys doing here?!” Bud stammered, flinging his pad and pen on the table and grabbing Danny’s wrist. “You’ve got to get out of here, you’ve got to leave-!”

Suddenly, the lights switched off, plunging everyone into darkness, their eyes slowly adjusting to the illuminated lights on the walls and ceiling. Kid felt Brian flinch and spin in his chair, coiled more tightly than his stomach in gym class. He grabbed at the Ninja, who stilled when Kid touched him, but kept his head and eyes swiveling around the room.

 _“Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls!”_ An overhead voice suddenly boomed over the speakers, giving Ninja Brian a nasty fright. _“Have we got a very, very special treat for you today!”_

“Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!” Bud muttered, Danny touching his arm and asking him what was going on. A spotlight suddenly hit Danny broadside, illuminating the startled man.

 _“Yessir, we have a very special guest here today, the one, the only, Mr. Danny Sexbang!”_ The crowd of sugar-spoiled children cheered at the sight of the curly haired man and ninja, the groups’ eyes finally landing on the source of the voice in the center of the rink: Kristin Laters.

Kristin stood in her own spotlight, and glided confidently to their table, mic in hand. “Hey there, Danny,” she cooed, sitting up on the wall. “Come back to take in the sights? Of course you know, this level of trespassing warrants a dance."

Immediately, the groups’ stomachs dropped. Danny Sexbang never stepped away from an invitation, much less a challenge, to show off his groovy moves, but their companion wasn’t currently Master of Thrills and Baron of Grooving Danny Y. Sexbang anymore. Right now, thanks to his father’s curse, he was just Danny. Kid frowned, thinking he saw the man blush, and advert his eyes from the beautiful blond, almost hurt.

“Normally, I’d love to cupcake, but I’m just, uh…”

Kristin eyed him up and down, drinking in his defeated frame and submissive body language. The way his shoulders were hunched, the way his stomach was twisted, the way his hands knotted themselves together. It was just too – wait a minute. “Where’s the famous leather, Sexbang? Or the iconic sequins? Or the Star, _Daniel_?”

Danny’s trembling stopped all at once, and his muscles locked up. He stared up at Kristin with unwavering eyes, brows knotted tightly. “You know? How could you know?”

“Looks like Mr. Danny could use some encouragement! Let’s give him a nice warm welcome, huh?” While the crowd cheered again, the parents more because Kristin hadn’t repeated the man’s apparent last name, Danny drifted into thought, the world around him quieting and stilling as he became absorbed in a single concern.

Kid frowned. “Danny? Danny!?” He pushed Ninja Brian, who was staring after Kristin, shooting a glare right between her shoulder blades.

Suddenly, Danny screamed, the foam abomination grabbing him from behind and hauling him over the back of the seat, the children shrieking in jubilation at the scene. Bud and Kid both leaped on Ninja Brian, keeping him in place before he ripped the abomination’s head off. As well as the head of the puppeteer inside.

Gus hauled the struggling Danny to the rink entrance, some Gators swarming and putting skates on his feet. They then tossed him in, Danny barely getting the skates under him before he fell, hard, right on his hip. Brian flinched and suddenly more hands were grabbing the trio from behind, a Gator whispering in their ears.

“Easy now, you don’t want something bad to happen, now do yah?”

He wondered if the poor Gator over their shoulders had any idea how excitedly Ninja Brian would have answered his question, had his friends not been on the line.

In the rink, Kristin grabbed Danny’s hands and yanked him to his feet, the lanky man balancing carefully on stiff, unsure legs. Danny kept his head down, focused on the floor and his balance, barely noticing Kristin skate around behind him, oblivious to whatever she was saying to mock and tease him. He took a few deep breaths, trying to release the clamps that had formed within his chest.

Man, humiliation and fear did not mix well with him.

“Come on, Danny, show us what you can do!” Danny could easily ignore the taunting, but wasn’t prepared for the solid shove to his shoulders. All at once, he toppled forward, legs kicking uselessly as he fell, smacking his face into the hard wood floor that rushed to meet him. Around him, the children laughed and cheered, their noise weighing down on him like a lead blanket. His face burned, and not just from the blossoming bruise.

Circling in front of him, Kristin squatted down while other skaters entered the rink, the show having presumably ended with his absolute humiliation. Brown eyes flashed, and Danny thought of many very Ninja Brian like things he would like to do to the pale blonde. The blonde that he used to love.

“You lost the Moonlight. Your little green gremlin got a lucky pass last night, because he’s wasn’t one of you. But bringing you all back here, that crosses the line. So, if I ever see you, your ninja, any of your spineless thugs, or especially that little green goblin around here again, your friend is out of a job, and a reputation, and I’ll end your little bacteria there, personally.”

Being lifted to his feet made glaring at the pretty woman much easier. Danny knew he couldn’t stand, let alone walk on his own with the skates on, but he certainly wasn’t going to be dragged off the rink he had owned once. The step up to the carpet, however, was something else he didn’t expect, and the trip was only greatened by the shoving hands on his back. Thankfully, Ninja Brian was there to catch him so he didn’t have to plunge his face into the disaster of a carpet. The Gators laughed as he struggled to stand, the height difference between himself and his ninja friend only increased by the skates. Brian, Danny could tell immediately, was one hinge away from blowing his top and wiping out half the population of Midburn, so Danny pulled him away from the Gators best he could. Bud and Kid were there as well, helping move them both towards the exit.


	9. Mistakes

Back at their suburban abode, Danny had insisted that his bones didn’t ache as much as they assumed, but losing his demigod abilities meant quite the opposite, and Brian seemed to be perfectly aware of this. He pulled the long-legged man into the house, dragging him as his joints involuntarily stiffened, and laid him on the couch, back and aching rear-end up. Danny protested, of course; he hated being on his stomach, they both did, but as he sunk into the cushions and his joints continued to lock up, he quickly lost the will to battle the ninja.

“Kid, go get some ice packs, at least three,” Bud instructed, blessedly giving the boy a distraction from the sight before him, and the memory of what they had just gone through.

Brian touched Bud’s shoulder and pointed to the back room, Bud nodding. “Oils, right.”

“Honestly, Brian, it’s not that bad,” Danny argued. But Brian ignored him, mercifully keeping Danny’s punishment to a pointed glare.

He somehow always managed to forget how fragile Danny'd already damaged human body was when he was mortal.

Kid returned quickly, handing the larger ice pack to Brian, and knelt by Danny’s face, the man watching him with scared, timid eyes.

“Here,” the boy offered, allowing Danny to touch the ice pack before he shoved it into the humiliated man’s face. Kid navigated it and Danny’s hand to his cheek, carefully shifting the ice so it cupped the center of the bruise. He then pulled at Danny’s long, strong fingers, moving them around the ice, keeping the contents firmly in place.

“You’ve got a lot of practice,” Danny teased heartlessly. “And you’re much more gentle than Ninja Brian. Thanks.”

Bud then reentered, carrying a small wooden box. Brian glared at him for taking so long and Bud apologized, offering the container.

“What’re those?” Kid asked, watching Brian select a few small vials from the fitted insides of the box.

“Healing oils,” Danny replied. “Ninja Brian always keeps a massive collection on hand.”

The kid frowned, Brian handing him the discarded ice pack. “What – what would you need healing oils for? Where would you even got those?”

“Got them a long, long time ago, while ninja training.”

The kid’s eyebrows rose. He wasn’t sure if Danny was admitting to being trained as a ninja, or if he was just answering for Brian, which he did often. “Wait, ninja training? You or Brian?”

The activity around him stilled, and Brian glanced at the two briefly.

“Uh, well Brian is better trained at using them,” Danny replied, trying to shift his weight a little. “But I guess you could say I’m better at needing them. That’s just what to expect when having a ninja for a house-mate.”

Kid sighed, a sigh that didn’t quite reach the tension between his shoulder blades, and dropped the ice pack onto the coffee table behind him. That clever dodge hadn’t answered anything, a skill Danny was very good at. It must come with his charm and wit, skills he usually used to introduce himself or seduce someone. It was infuriating, Kid would admit, to know so little about the ex-Cool Patrol leader, especially when there was obviously so much to know, but he noticed long ago that Danny hated origin stories. He hated talking to Kid about his past, hated when Kid would ask the others about there’s, and had begrudgingly changed the topic whenever he was tasked with translating Ninja Brian’s answers to the innocent, all-be-them probing, questions. So, Kid figured, some people just didn’t like to live in the past. And if anyone was likely to have some baggage back there somewhere, it would be the half-demigod half-man that laid before him, powerless, friendless, and completely humiliated.

“Makes sense,” he sighed, working to rearrange the melting ice pack on Danny’s face. Danny thanked him and smiled, a big warm smile that would usually drain the tension from Kid’s muscles, especially that pesky spot on his back. But today, he couldn’t get past the glint of guilt in Danny’s eyes.

His secrets were his secrets. What else did he have to feel guilty about?

\--------------------------------------------

Brian had volunteered Kid to go grocery shopping with him while Danny vanished to his bedroom for a few hours, and Kid didn’t bother trying to refuse. Besides, he wouldn’t mind spending some time with the ninja, and he didn’t have any other plans for the day. They dropped Bud off at home to get a much-needed shower and nap, and set to their errands. While driving around town and picking up their various necessities, Kid decided that asking a lot of questions, knowing the ninja probably shouldn’t be bothered to answer them, would just become tiresome.

By the time they got back, it was time for dinner, and the boy was amazed at Brian’s cooking skills, praising him repeatedly. He helped when he could and did his best to follow the silent instructions and demonstrations, and soon realized that cooking was actually kind of fun. He’d never really tried it before. They ate in relative silence, Danny finally emerging from his room with a small limp in time to help put the finishing touches on the meal and set the table. His hip was clearly still stiff, but he didn’t let that stop him from doing his part. A quiet boy by nature anyway, Kid was surprised that the uncharacteristic silence coming from the flamboyant leader didn’t bother him as much as he would have expected it to. It was the kind of silence that took over when there wasn’t much to be said, and it wasn’t uncomfortable, but wasn’t entirely expected considering the kind of relationship the boy shared with the adults. He was glad to learn, however, that they had reached the level of companionship were silence was acceptable, and un-forced.

Kid was half way through drying the dishes Danny was handing him from the sink wen Guy showed up. Mac arrived soon after, followed lastly by Bud. The kind of silence that filled the house then was exactly the awkward, uncomfortable kind Kid had expected earlier. Danny avoided the guests until the dishes were done, and then dried his hands after Kid had mopped up the sink and counter.

“Oh boy,” Danny muttered, taking a breath and limping into the living room.

The goons didn’t apologize, or at least Danny didn’t want to hear it or give them the chance. Back in his kimono, he paced the living room, having told them, with Kid’s summoned input, everything that had happened to the Moonlight, and had happened that day. Kid then asked Bud to tell the group everything Bud had told him about the condition of the Moonlight, and he did, the air in the room getting heavy as he spoke.

“Come on,” Mac finally argued, “it can’t be that bad. It’s only been a week.”

“No, Mac,” Danny snapped, “it’s been two. Two entire weeks that the Moonlight has been rotting and festering away under the Gator’s control.”

“It still can’t be that bad,” Guy added. Across Mac from Guy, Bud combed through his hair and frowned, producing a skittle.

“And I showered today,” he presented the skittle to the others. “Twice.”

Danny grabbed the skittle and tossed it over his shoulder. “The relative state of ‘bad’ isn’t the issue here! What’s on trial is that our Moonlight is no longer the palace we had built her into. Now she’s a putrid pile of bricks and mortar that serves little more function than a waste despot for this stinking town to dump it’s acidic, corrosive brats into for a few hours. The Moonlight has become a sugar-infused and vomit drenched playpen.”

“What’s worse,” Bud voiced, “they completely humiliated Danny today. There wasn’t anything in the challenge about the Cool Patrol getting kicked out of the place if we lost. She was totally out of line.”

“No, she wasn’t,” Danny sighed. “She said she wanted the place and she wanted me and ‘my gang’ out, taking our dances and fights with us.”

“But we aren’t the Cool Patrol anymore,” Mac frowned. “She must have known that.”

“I wouldn’t put it past her to know everything about each one of us…” Danny eyed his friends that sat around him individually. “Everything. But what’s worse than that is Kri-the Gators didn’t win the Moonlight, they stole it. Cheated it from right over our heads!”

“Did she?” Bud asked, shifting his weight. “Your dad, or whatever, magic JCPenny’s or some bull, said that you weren’t supposed to … work your magic on the leader, which you did.”

“Kristin grabbed the whole thing with both hands, each with a grip like an iron clamp coming in from opposite sides.” For the first time all night, Danny sat down, giving a slight grimace as he lowered into the recliner. “On one hand, she fooled me into thinking she wasn’t the leader anymore, so even if I had known Avi’s command I still would have broken it. But, we can’t assume she knew about the instructions, so we can’t really count that cheat against her, or at least against the Gators. However, the second cheat was on the rink, completely incapacitating me so I couldn’t finish the routine. If you don’t finish the routine by striking the final blow or pose, you forfeit automatically, per the rules of these kinds of challenges.”

“That’s right,” Bud confirmed. “I’ve seen lots of smaller play-duels end like that because people just don’t realize it’s that big of a deal.”

“This is so complex,” Kid muttered to himself.

“It’s called ‘conduct’,” Danny explained. “And Kristin broke that conduct. She won the challenge on a cheat, and an illegal duel. Guy and Bud should not have been challenged without me and Kristin there.”

“Why couldn’t you argue that with the owners?” Kid asked.

“Because we threw the first punches, and the Moonlight has strict rules against fighting on the rink,” the curled haired man sighed, ducking his head and shaking out his curls with his hands. “We were lucky they let us have the last duel instead of kicking us out completely.”

Sighing again, Danny spoke up at the group from under curls, slowly, more carefully than his unhappy tirade before.

“Now, I fully understand having what some would call an ‘unfair advantage’ in life, I know you could all accuse me of having one, and you’d be partially right. But the blessing Avi gave me only complimented my natural traits I never knew I had until I had a bit of a life direction change and kind of became a different person. My point is, I don’t cheat. I’ve never once used Avi’s blessing, my own skills, or the abilities that I’ve worked darn hard for to use this advantage unfairly. Well, until my duel with Kristin.”

Behind Danny, Ninja Brian nodded fervently.

“And that’s why this cuts as deep as it does. I’m sure it cuts us all deep, but I rightly-so feel responsible. Had I not taken that night off, had I not been so … distracted, the fight might not have happened, the Moonlight might still be ours, Kristin’s tricks might not have worked. I let the ball drop on this one, guys, let things get out of hand, _my_ hands, and I really screwed us all over. So, just get it all out there. This is all one me, and I have been trying crazy hard to figure out how to make it all right.”

“Well, how we make it right,” Kid frowned, shifting in the chair to more openly face Danny, “is to challenge it all. Can’t we can challenge the judges, or the Gators, since they cheated? Get the Moonlight back?”

“What?!” Danny’s head flew up. “No! We can’t do anything like that.”

“What?” Kid stood. “Why not? You just said they cheated!”

“Because we aren’t a gang anymore,” Danny explained, circling the rooms with his hands. “You can’t pull three random dudes off the street and just waltz in there and demand a rematch. Where would the Moonlight go if we won? Who would own it?”

“The Cool Patrol!” Kid almost shouted.

“We aren’t the Cool Patrol anymore,” Danny rose to his feet.

“Yes, we are!” the boy argued. “Just because you get grounded by your dad you think you can just throw the Cool Patrol out like that? Like it was all just a bad draft of an English essay? Maybe we all get back together and elect a new leader who hasn’t gone yellow, what then?”

“Kid,” Danny replied, voice low, “you need to remember, right now, that you aren’t part of the Cool Patrol, and at this rate, you never will be.”

No beatings he had had ever hurt as much as this. No blows, no threats, no punches, no kicks. Nothing cut his chest open like the light he saw in Danny’s eyes, the edge to his voice, the blade in his words. He stared at Danny and clenched his fists, his eyes and ears burning. As he stomped across the room and grabbed his backpack, he left, his vison beginning to blur and his ears beginning to ring. If someone called his name, he didn’t hear them. When Ninja Brian stepped in his way, that didn’t stop him. He just shoved the ninja to the side and slammed the front door.


	10. Sexbangs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let the headcannons begin!

With a snarl, Kid wiped at his eyes with the cuff of the sweatshirt Danny had loaned him. Stupid Cool Patrol! Who needs them? They certainly didn’t need him, and he didn’t _want_ them! Not anymore! He was done having his emotions, his friendship, played with like it was just another guitar for Danny to strum. Forget Danny and his “powers,” forget Bud and his jokes, Mac and his teases, Guy and his jesting jabs, and forget Ninja Brian and his … his … forget Ninja Brian for not sticking up for him when that curly-haired ego-tripping self-loathing attention-hogging lying-and-deceitful monster had devalued the friendship he’d tricked Kid into thinking they had! Was it all a lie? Was Kid nothing more than a bother when he spent hours trying to cheer up that worm? Was Danny just humored to see him and all his mortality attempt to connect with some head-in-the-clouds god that he let Kid stay in his room, talking to him and entertaining him? Did he sit in silence when Kid was around because he couldn’t be bothered by the Earth-dweller? His refusal to talk about his backstory, did that stem from some boredom with the mortal, human boy? Was he not worthy to know the mysterious ways of the gods?! To be their friend??

Growling, Kid clenched his fists. He wanted to punch something; he wanted to tear some car or brick building apart with his bare hands. Maybe he’d find another half-demigod somewhere with his head up his butthole and get _that_ demi-god to give him his powers back. Maybe then he’d fly back to that stupid little suburban house and use them on Danny, seeing how he liked running for his life and watching every corner, terrified that someone worlds more powerful than him was just waiting to drag him behind some dumpster and tear at his skin and break his bones and spill his blood.

“Hey Kid,” he heard and stopped, vision clearing enough to see down the dark alley to his side. “What we tell you about leaving the beaten path?”

His teeth were clenched so tightly his jaw hurt. “Just let me go,” he growled.

“Oh-ho, you hear that?” the shorter bully asked his taller companion, both emerging from the alleyway. “Little big-shot thinks he can boss us around.”

“Haha, too bad his precious ‘Lame Patrol’ isn’t here to save him now!”

Tears stung Kid’s eyes. They weren’t, and they never would be again. Why was he ever so stupid to think that they would be to begin with?

“Yeah, it’s too bad!”

With a yelp, Kid was shoved from behind by the taller bully, the shorter decking him across his jaw.

“Heard you were causing trouble down at the rink,” the taller one jeered, shoving him backwards. “Thought we told you not to go ‘round there anymore. Thought we’ve told you that ‘bout a hundred times.”

Kid caught himself, stumbling a couple steps from between them. “Bet you can’t even count to a hundred,” he spat.

Growling, the shorter one decked him across the jaw again, yanking him back to his feet before he had time to hit the ground. One way or another, everyone was going to know that the Cool Patrol wasn’t there to protect him, and that the great “Danny Y. Sexbang” hadn’t shown up to a fight. Kid swore he’d make it happen.

“Come on now,” the taller grabbed Kid’s hands from behind suddenly and yanked them above Kid’s head, pulling him back against his chest. “‘Put your hands in the air’! Ain’t that what you’ve been taught?”

Snickering, the shorter one punched Kid in the center of his soft abdomen, knocking the air from his lungs. Kid curled up instinctively, the taller dropping his hands only to lock his arms around Kid’s empty chest, lifting him off the ground. “Now don’t make us sing alone! ‘You jump off the ground’? Isn’t that it?”

Kid tried to protest, even cry for help, but his lungs were empty, and he wasn’t getting any room to fill them. He tried kicking and wiggling to get out of the hold but his head was beginning to float upwards, leaving his blacking out body behind.

The shorter one slapped him, trying bring to him back around to reality. Grabbing his face, the bully snarled into in. “Better start singing! You don’t want us to get to the later verses, do you?”

Kid did his best to shake his head and felt the arms around him loosen, almost dropping him to the ground. They remained locked around him, however, but at least he could breathe again. “Now sing!”

One beat passed as he tried to recover his breathe. A second beat passed as he cursed _Avi Infinity_ , or whatever his name was, for cursing Danny and taking Kid’s powers. A third beat passed as he prayed to the demigod, begging for enough strength to survive this fight.

“You put your … hands in the air and you jump … jump off the ground…”

“Then?” the bully grabbing his face smiled, digging his nails into the boy’s skin. “Sing it! You’re some superhero, right? Then SING IT!”

Whether it was the sheer terror gripping his mind, the lack of oxygen, or the exhaustion from his emotional trauma just an hour previous, Kid wasn’t sure. What he did know was that he heard the bullies shouting at him distantly, like he was underwater. He picked out the words “superhero”, and next thing he knew, he heard music, and it crashed over him like a wave, reality setting into his bones. He was back in the Moonlight Rollerway that night, the night the Cool Patrol swept him up and surrounded him with their anthem, infusing him with power and strength. As the tune played, he remembered and smiled. That’s right. He was a freaking superhero. All of a sudden, on beat with the music in his head, Kid exploded out of the bullies’ arms, tossing them away from him. Standing, he smiled down at his hands as the lyrics drifted around him, Danny’s silky voice filling the air:

_“You’re basically a super-hero now some throw some cars!_

_And rub your magnum thighs together and set fire to Mars!_

_Now harness all your sexy fury in a victory stance!_

_This is the Cool Patrol Da-a-aance!”_

Frowning, the bullies exchanged a glance, Kid’s eyes leaving his hands and aiming at them, the electric blue in them glistening. Turning, he heard the tall bully behind him scramble to his feet, knowing the shorter one was doing the same while his back was turned, and Kid cracked his knuckles. Two fists flew at him from either side and he snatched them from the air, absorbing the blow with his palms. Spinning, he hurled one bully over his shoulder after the next, sending them both yards down the sidewalk, one on top of the other.

“You, you can’t do that! You’re not supposed to be able to do that!”

Kid leaped off the ground and landed over them, leaving two holes the size of his sneakers in the concrete. “What’s wrong? I thought you wanted me to sing the song?”

The terror in their faces changed to hatred very quickly, and they scrambled up, flying at him. Kid ducked one punch and threw his fist into the face of the other, sending him crashing through the building front to Kid’s left. He then turned and did the same to the second, sending him into the building right next to his buddy.

“What – what is wrong with you?” they stammered as the bricks settled. Kid looked down at himself and at his hands, clenching them.

“Guess you could say I have an ‘unfair advantage’ in life. I’m under the protection of the Cool Patrol.” With that, Kid leaped back into the air, cutting through the night sky as he turned and headed back the direction he came. As he flew, the music continued.

\--------------------------------------

The house was quiet on the outside as Kid approached, but the inside was in turmoil.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Danny cried as soon as the boy slammed the door. Grabbing his curls by the handfuls, he turned to the others desperately. “I meant that he wouldn’t because the Cool Patrol wasn’t a thing anymore, it wouldn’t be again! Oh – Brian! Where is he? Why didn’t you stop him?”

Brian put one hand forward, shoving the air like he was lightly shoving some invisible body.

“What?” Danny frowned. “He shoved you out of the way?”

“How can he do that?” Bud asked, standing. “He lost his powers.”

Danny looked at him and then paled suddenly, staggering a step backwards. “It’s Saturday night! Those bullies are going to be on the hunt! They haven’t wailed on him all weekend, they’re going to be out for blood!”

“Let’s find him!” Guy cried, shooting to his feet.

“We don’t know where he went or where he could be,” Mac pointed out, standing slowly. “This place is miles out of town, and you know how he wanders around. He could be anywhere.”

“Then we start looking!” Guy cried again, shoving Mac’s shoulders.

“Hey!” Danny snapped, kicking the coffee table into their legs with incredibly force, knocking them all back onto the couch. “Knock it off! You three haven’t stopped fighting since you lost the duel and I’m sick of it!”

“You’re sick of it?” Bud scoffed. “Why do you care? We’re all just three ‘random dudes,’ aren’t we? That you just pulled off the street?” He stood, facing the older man. “Are we even privileged enough to stand in the presence of your lordship, oh Mr. demigod of the Heavens? Is your father dearest watching us right now, laughing at our petty mortal problems, waiting to strike us down with lightning?”

“No,” Danny growled. “Stop! You know nothing about my family!”

“How could we,” Bud continued, climbing over the table. “It’s not like you have ever mentioned them before, or that fact that you’re half-god! Tell me this, if your Daddy is really so powerful, the ‘Demigod of Fate’ or whatever bull-crap you expect us mere mortals to just blindly believe, then why hasn’t he stopped all of this from happening, huh? Did you even bother to ask?”

“NO!” Danny hissed, the youthful man backing him a step backwards. “Bud, STOP! It’s not like that! You don’t know anything!”

“No, because we’re just ‘three random dudes,’ aren’t we?” Guy growled, following Bud. “You just said that. I guess we’re not friends then, huh, or never will be again?”

“NO!”

“That’s what you said, Danny! You just said that to Kid and to all of us, right now, you just said it!”

“That’s not what I said!” Shouted the man. “You’ll listen to everything else I’ll say but not that?”

“What’s wrong, Sexbang,” Guy stepped closer, passing Bud, “not used to not ‘seducing’ your way through life? Don’t like losing your ‘unfair advantage’ from your daddy?”

“Back up, Guy,” Danny warned, stepping away from the shorter man.

“Why?!” Guy shoved him, Danny stumbling a half step.

“Why should we listen to you at all?” Bud asked, following on Guy’s heels. “You’re not our leader anymore, you never even told us you had a demigod as a father! All this time you could have told us the truth, but guess what, you didn’t! You just had to keep you head above the rest of ours, huh?”

“Guys,” Danny tried again, backed into a corner. “Stop. Please, I’m begging you. Don’t threaten me again, please!”

“Why Danny?” Mac asked, finally following the others. “Why shouldn’t we?”

“Because it’s just … it’s not safe to threaten me, please, back up!”

“Make us, demigod!” Guy cried, thumping his chest.

“Yeah, make us!” Bug echoed. “You think we’re scared of you and your voodoo family and powers?!”

“I am _NOT_ the one you should be afraid of, here,” Danny replied sharply. Then, everyone stopped, and turned.

“Uh,” Mac stammered, “where’s Ninja Brian?”

“BRI! NO!” Spinning, the trio faced Danny, screaming as he stepped between them and the leaping ninja, somehow wrestling Brian to the ground and pinning him down. “Brian! STOP!”

Brian didn’t see Danny, just the threats. He grabbed Danny’s curls and yanked him off, going for the group. Danny, however, looped a leg through Brian’s and spun around on the floor, hooking the ninja’s leg inside the crook of his own, making the ninja stumble. Brian spun and flung Danny’s hold off him, Danny grabbing the nearby recliner and swinging it, smashing it into the ninja, knocking him off balance. He then jumped on the man’s back, twisting an arm behind the ninja’s back and driving one knee into the tender spot between Brian’s shoulder blades, panting heavily while the ninja kicked and tried to wiggle lose.

“Brian,” Danny called sternly, “ _STOP_. They are our friends, Brian! You can _not_ kill them!”

After a second, Brian cautiously stilled, and stopped fighting. He glared up at Danny and gave his strained arms two tugs, Danny releasing him and scrambling off his friend, who quickly sat up, rolling out the kink Danny had planted in his back.

“Sorry, Bri,” Danny apologized, placing one hand on the ninja’s shoulder. “You just about lost it there.”

“What just happened?” Bud asked, still pushed against the others in panic.

Danny looked up at them and panted, giving Brian’s shoulder a few pats, the ninja nodding at him. Suddenly, something crashed onto the lawn outside, the force blowing the big front windows out, covering the living room in glass. Swearing, Danny stood, following Ninja Brian out the front door.

“My lawn!” Danny cried, running to the edge of the small crater in the center of the grass. A green-haired boy knelt in the center. “KID?!”

“Hey Danny,” he beamed up at them, the group quickly offering their hands and pulling him out.

“What the – what did you just do to my lawn?!”

“Danny! Danny,” Kid grabbed his hands, practically bouncing in place. “Guess what!”

“I’m going to need another home insurance policy,” Danny frowned, searching the boy’s face. “What?”

Suddenly, Kid rounded behind Danny and circled his chest with his arms, leaping up into the air and taking the taller man with him. They climbed higher and higher until they parted the clouds, stopping and hanging among the stars like a balloon, just floating in place.

“WHAT THE HECK?!” Danny shrieked, reaching behind him to grab the kid’s shoulders. “YOU CAN FLY? WHY CAN YOU FLY?! SINCE WHEN CAN YOU FLY AGAIN?”

“I don’t know,” Kid laughed, readjusting his grip around the man’s chest after he hesitantly dropped his hands from Kid’s shoulders. “I was getting pumbled by the bullies again after leaving your place, and they told me to sing that Cool Patrol theme song? The one you sang me?”

“I didn’t think you sang,” Danny replied, his volume returning to normal as he looked at the night sky around them, some of the stars so close he wanted to touch them.

“I didn’t have to! I was…” Kid trailed off guiltily, readjusting his grip once more. “I was pretty ticked at you, but all I could think about was Avi, your dad.”

“You were on your deathbed and all you could think about was my father? Why?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just figured that if anyone – _anything_ was going to get me out of that fight, it would take a miracle.”

“Well, Avi’s the right person to go to for one of those,” Danny shrugged. “So what, my dad appeared in a burst of lighting and struck them down with flying monkeys or something?”

“I wouldn’t say all that, but they kept telling me to sing the song, and next thing I knew, I could … hear the music.”

“That is a typical sensation that people experience when the light at the end of the tunnel starts glowing.”

“No, not like that!” Kid shook his head and Danny kept quiet. How could he possibly explain what it was like, what happened, when he didn’t fully understand it himself?

“Kid, are you saying my dad … blessed you?”

“No, but, I remember they said ‘superhero’, like in the lyrics, and something just clicked, like I remembered the feeling I got last time you sang that? The first time I went to the Moonlight? It was like I was right back there, and I just heard the song, Danny, in your voice, all around me, and then next thing I knew I was throwing these guys through the wall.”

“Awesome!”

“Well yeah but… I don’t get it. You weren’t there, but the song started playing and I just… I don’t know what happened.”

“Kid…” Danny’s tone hitched, and he tensed, turning his head. Kid frowned down at him.

“Yeah? You okay?”

After a beat, Danny continued. “You know what I always say? Probably the worse advice I’ve ever given?”

“What’s that?”

“’Fake it til you make it’, that piece of philosophical garbage, remember that one? Kid, I don’t think you followed my advice. I think you did the opposite, actually. I think you bought into it all, and bought into it hard, and it saved your butt.”

“What?”

“What I’m saying, is that this all means…” suddenly Danny was ripping Kid’s arms from around his chest and falling headlong through the air, “that I can do this-!”

“DANNY-!” Kid shrieked.

Down on the ground, the four men watched the sky where the two had vanished through the clouds.

“Is one of them…”

“Is that Danny?”

“Is he free-falling?!”

A moment of panic later, and a cloud of glitter and smoke hit the ground, exploding all over them and the lawn.

In the swirling smoke and cloud before them, the eye of the hurricane, a triumphant tune started up from around the figure in the center, silhouetted against a gentle glow.

“DANNY?” the group called in unison. Smiling, Danny fell to his knees, shrieking out a joyous and spectacular, “OH YEEEEEAAH!” as he slid down, a whirlwind of air exploding from around him, clearing the smoke and clouds away with a great blast. Removing the shields from their eyes, the four stared and smiled at the curly haired man before them, whose blue unitard glittered in the moonlight, full length cape hanging gently behind him and from his wrists, red and white Jewish Star practically glowing on his core. In his hands was his electric blue base, the shoulder strap of lightning looping around his shoulders.

“Danny,” Bud smiled, “you’re-”

Danny walked to them, closing the distance in three giant steps, and raised his hand to strike the youthful man. Bud flinched and cried out.

“Please, don’t!” He peaked one eye open and Danny glared, Bud continuing. “I’m sorry! I – I didn’t mean to question you, Danny! Or insult your dad, or family, or any of that! I just, you never told us, so it was hard to believe. But I never meant to insult anyone, honest! I just didn’t know what else to do. I never thought you’d lie to us…”

Danny looked him up and down and slowly lowered the hand. “I never wanted to lie to any of you,” he explained. “But believe me, trust me if you can, it’s easier if you don’t know, and it’s best for us all that you don’t, that you never find out.”

Bud nodded, the others doing the same.

“We can try, Danny,” Mac promised.

“I hope you do,” Danny smiled, “because you baloney heads aren’t the worst friends I’ve ever had, and I’m going to need your help to get the Moonlight back.”

Smiles broke out among the goons, and they straightened, ready for the fight. Danny heard his name and turned, seeing Kid land on the lawn behind him, dropping to his rear end when his sneakers hit the ground.

“Danny!” he cried as the man quickly approached. “You’re – you’ve got your Sexbangs back!”

“It’s entirely thanks to you, Kid,” he smiled, kneeling by the boy. Kid frowned.

“How? All I did was magic carpet your butt for a quick joy ride.”

Danny chuckled and shook his head. “Kid, you really want to know what happened? How all of this,” he motioned to himself, cape flowing, “is thanks to you? And how it explains your powers coming back?”

After a second of thought, the kid shrugged. “I mean you’re back, and they’re back, so I don’t really care too much. But if you wanna get it off your chest, I’m all ears.”

Smiling, Danny stood, offering his hands and pulling the boy up.

“What I’m about to say to you, you can’t repeat to a soul, okay?”

Kid nodded, he and Danny zipping their lips, twisting the end off, bumping fists and flinging it over the other’s shoulder.

“And that goes for the rest of you, right?” the others stepped forward to circle the two and repeated the action Danny and Kid has sealed their secret with. “Okay... Do you know what ‘Sexbang’, my last name, means in my native language? Loosely translated, it means ‘super at’, like to be excellent and extra-incredible and just crazy amazing at something. But it’s more than that. It’s more than your talent or capacity for something; it’s a kind of identity in that talent or capacity, like you are quite literally that thing and you are so incredible and super-duper awesome at it that you should be proud in it, because you and it are the same, and being so awesome at it makes you as a person that awesome as well. Make sense?”

“Yeah,” Kid nodded. “Like the embodiment of something because you’re just that good at it.”

“Exactly! For me, it compliments my first name, ‘Danny’, which means charm and friendship, a combination of the two. I know, I haven’t been very good at that lately, but when Avi took my name away, I literally lost my identity because I lost that amazing thing that really made me me. I wasn’t even ‘Danny’ at that point, not by meaning anyway. Still tracking with me?”

“So far,” Kid nodded again.

“What happened to you,” Danny continued, taking the boy’s shoulders in his hands, “is that you found your ‘sexbang’ again, that thing that made you you.”

“Fighting?”

“No, confidence. You said you were transported back to that feeling you had after the song, how big and confident you felt? That’s who you are, Kid, the super-powers are just a side effect of just how confident and awesome you are. You felt bigger than this entire town, and that confidence in yourself helped you believe that what I said about the super-powers was true. I never gave you super-powers, Kid, I’m not some magical siren that can do crazy crap like that. I just gave you the confidence you needed to give yourself the super-powers, and planted the seed to make you think, ‘sure, I have super-powers because I’m that awesome’. Does that all make sense?”

Kid frowned, processing everything Danny had just dumped on him. Danny didn’t give him super-powers, he wasn’t a magical siren, he was just… charming and friendly, his sexbang, and since Avi’s blessing made his natural music and dancing abilities that much better, and that was his outlet for his sexbang, of course he’d be endlessly amazing at it. And of course he’d boost Kid’s confidence if he was the walking personification of charm and friendliness wrapped in a divinely blessed music and dancing machine, and that would mean that if Kid believed he had super-powers, he had super-powers, it all made perfect sense!

In a weird, fantastic sort of way.

“Yeah, yeah!” Kid nodded. “Avi blessed your dancing and music, making you that much better at it, and that’s your outlet for your sexbang, being charming and friendly, making them both that much better and more powerful, while punching holes in walls and flying is my outlet for my sexbang, which is being confident, which I got from you! Wow,” he smiled, looking around the dark neighborhood for a minute, “suddenly my life makes sense. Well, most of it, anyway. The bigger questions do.”

“Right on!” Danny smiled, dropping Kid’s shoulders. “As long as you don’t lose that confidence, you’ll keep those super-powers of yours, though I highly doubt we need to worry about you losing them again,” he added, teasing the boy’s green hair.

While Kid straightened his hair back out, Danny took one step backwards, Ninja Brian and the other goons stepping to his sides.

“And now,” he announced, pulling his guitar from around his shoulders and taking the strap off, “I implore you, good nave, kneel.”

Looking around in confusion, Kid met nothing but encouraging nods, and so he shrugged, kneeling.

“Sir of the Moonlight, Mage of the Rollerway, Patron to Dreams and Hopes, Kid of Midburn, will you not forgive and forget the transgressions committed against you by these, your humble servants you see here, and remember our oath to friendship and companionship to my lord, finally taking up your rightful place here beside us in this court, officially placing upon yourself the mantle of brotherhood and dedication that is the Cool Patrol?”

Stunned, Kid’s head shot up. Was… was Danny asking him to join the Cool Patrol?

Over the man’s shoulder, Ninja Brian nodded vigorously. Kid snorted and bowed his head again.

“I, uh, your humble nave, am not one meant for singing and dancing, my lord.”

“Yeah, and Ninja Brian isn’t one for letting people live either, and yet here we are all.” Stepping forward, Danny swung the guitar behind him and offered a hand. “Kid, the Cool Patrol wouldn’t be the same without you. Without you, we’d just be the ‘Patrol,’ and that isn’t sexy at all.”

If Kid had ever beamed with pride, and Danny’s eyes had ever shown with sincerity, it was now. Smiling, Kid grasped the hand.


	11. Reclaim

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter goes up in honor of the kind Anon who left a wonderful comment! I have had this story finished before I even began posting it, but completely forgot to keep updating it, for which I apologize. So, here's the second-to-last chapter. Enjoy!

“I’m telling you, we ain’t making this up! The kid – he’s got those powers back! Threw us both through the side of a building!”

“I thought I told you,” growled Kristin, standing and tossing the fabric crown in her hands to the side, “to keep on him! Keep terrorizing him and knocking him down! If he gets back up one peg, knock him down three more! I need that boy to feel meaningless! Pointless!”

“Yeah,” the bullies stammered, “but we’re telling you, it didn’t work! Two weeks we’ve been getting away with it, then tonight he just throws us through a wall! It’s just like that Sexbang guys said he was in that song!”

Starting, Kristin leveled a sharp glare at them, her eyes ablaze. “Do not even THINK of telling me that you reminded him of that infernal anthem!”

The bullies swapped confused looks. “Okay.”

Screaming, Kristin spun around, pacing on the booth, heels digging into the red upholstery under her feet. “I destroyed the Star, I defeated Mr. Sexbang! The kid shouldn’t have any powers, he should be pathetic, weak, helpless! All of them should be!”

Over her shoulder, Gus Gator leaned into the conversation. “Maybe he was faking,” came the muffled suggestion. Growling, Kristin smacked it, spinning the stuffed head backwards.

“You know,” a sultry, silk voice addressed from the Moonlight’s entrance, “if you keep beating that think up, it’ll never stop scaring people half to death.”

The Gators sun around in their seats, face to face with the full force of the Cool Patrol, leather and sunglasses in place, purple cape and jacket around Kid’s shoulders. Grabbing his stuffed head, Gus spun it back around with a sickening crack, everyone cringing at the display. Kristin lifted her chin and stood, strutting over the table top and dropping to the carpet, blond curls bouncing and eyes locked on Danny.

“I never would have taken you for the ‘public humiliation’ type,” she purred. “You must be pretty eager to take me to bed again if you chanced coming back here. Hate to disappoint a growing boy his needs, but I don’t do six-on-one.”

The goons gasped, looking to Danny quickly. He’d been – he and her? Their two leaders? Suddenly, the kiss at the end of their couple’s duel made a lot more sense.

“Firstly,” Danny stepped forward, slapping her hand away from his face, “the small one is still a minor, so that’s just disgusting. Secondly, no, humiliation is never something I will ever enjoy seeing. Thirdly, that’s actually very gross.”

Frowning, Kristin tilted her head. “What is?”

“That whole walking across the tables thing!” Danny motioned back to the table behind her, where the other Gators remained seated. “Like, you guys are just borrowing that spot for a while, I get it, keeping the seats warm until we get our crap sorted out, but come on, after walking around on these floors? Just walk right across? I mean, people eat off that.”

She slapped him, her hand making contact at last with his sharp face, a small hurt noise escaping Danny. “Alright, Sexbang, if you think you can ignore my threats, then fine. I’m going to let my boys lose all over your boys, but don’t worry, I’ll keep the little one alive just long enough for his tormentors to finish him off themselves, anyway they want, and then, when they are all dead and gone, I’m going to carve my name into that Star like it’s just begging for my autograph, with you under it.”

“Gotta admit,” Danny replied, rubbing his cheek, “you lost me about halfway through. It was good, really, but when you said your boys, I just imagined an army of nightmare-fuel yellow mascots coming at us, and imagined that every time we hit them they just sounded like those little dog squeaky toys, you know, the really small, high pitched squeaky ones? So then by the time I got that mental image out of my head you were saying something about signing something, and you just lost me.”

Kristin searched his eyes for a minute, and shook her head, a sad smile on her face. “What a waste,” she said, stepping away from him. “You really were a great kisser.”

“Thank you,” Danny called after her, “and I will remain as such, I’m afraid.”

“Did you not hear-”

“Hear anything you just said? No, I clearly just said that I zoned out and missed your whole ‘destroy them and make you watch’ thing. Please, the Manticore and I have been at each other’s throats for millennia now, your little switchblade doesn’t scare me.”

“No?”

“Not even a little. So, I’ll tell you what’s really going to happen.”

Kristin’s eyes widened, and she lunged at him. “NO-!”

“Kristin Laters, leader of the Gator Skaters, I am calling you out!”

The Gators gasped and the Cool Patrol cheered, the two gangs quickly advancing, backing up their leaders. With one hand in the air, Danny halted his behind him.

“I, Danny Y. Sexbang, leader of the Cool Patrol, challenge you, Kristin Laters, and your gang, the Gator Skaters, to one final duel, winner take all, losers leave Midburn forever.” He crossed his arms and glared down at the woman, the woman he once loved. “ _All_ the losers.”

Kristin looked away, trembling under the weight of his gaze and words. “Name the terms.”

“I can’t skate against you,” Danny began, moving back to the line. “Avi strictly forbade it, and his law still stands. But I can appoint someone from my gang, anyone from my gang, to skate in my place. As can you.”

“Fair,” she snapped.

“And I appoint the kid.”

All at once, the floor fell out from under Kid’s feet, and he launched up, knocking his head against a nearby star.

“DANNY!” he cried, the man turning to him. Kid grabbed his jacket and yanked him down to ear level. “I know I’ve told you that I can’t sing or dance, and that’s fine, we’re cool with that. But have I ever happened to mention or bring up in any way that I’ve have never once ever skated in my life?!”

Stunned, Danny stared. “Then why are you always here, at a _roller rink_?”

“Where else in town am I going to go on a Friday night? The laundry mat?!”

Grinning, Danny giggled, and straightened, turning to Kristin. “Uh, could we-”

“So, you want to send your newest member to the slaughter for you? Fine, I can play by those rules.”

Like a blur, another skater circled the gang and stopped in front of the group, effortlessly completing a few breakdance moves that would probably break the necks of any of the Cool Patrol that would try to do them. And would definitely break the kid’s.

“I’ll put my newest member against yours, gladly.”

“Hi,” Danny waved. “Could we, uh, have a quick recess to strategize with our newest member? Thanks.” Spinning around, Danny joined the group, which huddled tightly together.

“I thought we were cool,” Kid growled at the curly-haired man. “If I had known you hated flying this much I would have taken Ninja Brian!”

“Don’t worry,” Danny waved a hand in the air, like he could wipe away the whole mess.

“Not worry? It’s my neck on the line here!”

“Kid,” Danny took his shoulder, “we’ll get you out of this. You’re a Cool Patrol member, now, you’re one of us.”

“I’m gonna be one with the afterlife if you don’t figure something out.”

“Hey man, we will,” Guy encouraged.

“Yeah kid,” Bud added with a smile, “don’t get yourself too worked up. Keep that sexbang of yours in mind, remember. Confidence.”

“Try having a little of that in us,” Mac shrugged.

Kid searched them all and looked at Danny’s big brown eyes, reluctantly nodding.

“Alright, we’ll figure this out.”

“What do we know?” Danny asked, searching his friends.

“The kid doesn’t know any of our music,” Guy offered.

“Or dances,” Bud added.

“And he’s never been on skates before in his life,” Mac shrugged again.

“And that guy,” Bud motioned over their shoulders at the challenger, “looks like he was born in them. And where was the kid born, some grassy clover field in Ireland?”

While Kid glared, Danny’s eyes lit up. “Wait! Bud, you work here. What’re the protocols for a skate off like this?”

Bud frowned in thought, looking at the carpet. “Well, it’s man-on-man, and since we are technically using their skates and home rink, we get chose whether to go first or defer.”

“What about the music?”

“Each skater picks their own.”

Then, in the center of the circle, a lightbulb lit up. Straightening, Danny spun around.

“You there, large, hideous Alligator type beast that will haunt my dreams for the perceivable future, get this man a pair of size eights!”

“Size nine,” Kid whispered in his ear.

“Size nines! We are having ourselves a skate off!”


	12. The Duke is Crowned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, y'all. The final chapter.

Kid sat on a nearby chair, untying the robe from around his shoulder while Danny tied up his skates.

“Okay, it’s all squared away,” the older man was saying. “You defer to go second, let that liver-breath over there get all his punk-teen angst out, and then nail them with your sick moves. Remember, you both have to stay in the rink the entire time, but he can’t touch you, so if he does, call foul, flag on the play, duck-duck-goose, whatever, and they’ll have no choice but to forfeit. Ninja Brian and Bud will be keeping an eye out for any illegal moves, and we’ll all be right here, ready to take the rink back.” Finishing, he gave the skates a wiggle and tug, making sure they were tight. “Those going anywhere?”

“No-” the boy squeaked, clearing his throat. “No, they feel good.”

Putting his hands on his hips, Danny gave the boy’s foot a little shake to get his attention. “Well come on, Duke Sexbang, you ready to show these bullies up once and for all?”

“Yeah,” Kid muttered. “I guess.”

Standing on his own skates, Danny took his hands and pulled the boy to his feet, who immediately began to stumble. Danny grabbed his arms, steadying him while Kid shuffled his feet back under him. “You sure I can’t just fly the whole time and pumble this clown into the floor?”

“Oh no,” Danny chirped, leading Kid to the edge of the rink, “by all means, pumble the clown, but do it straight. Cheating is what got us all into this mess in the first place.”

Kid sighed, gripping both sides of the rink entrance. “Of all the times for you to get a conscious…”

Guy and Mac stood on either side of the gap in the wall, cheering him on.

“You’ve got this, kid,” Guy pumped one fist.

“Yeah, you’ll be great,” Mac smiled. Kid tried his best to smile back.

“Ready?” Danny asked, close behind him.

“No,” Kid grumbled, but stepped down the small bump anyway. Once he had both skates under him, Danny gave the boy a little push to get him moving forward. Kid chanced a quick glance at the judge’s table, which sat opposite the Cool Patrol’s usual table, Ninja Brian and Bud at their seats, encouraging him on. Kid smiled and cautiously shuffled to the center of the rink, the challenger backflipping over the wall and easily beating him there. Kid already hated this guy.

Danny and Kristin then joined their skaters, Danny helping pull Kid to the center. There, Kristin laughed at them.

“This is the best the Cool Patrol can do? I thought you wanted your rink back.”

“We do,” Danny replied, “and we’ll get it. Kid here won’t let us down.”

From where Danny’s hand touched his back, Kid felt his muscles begin to relax, wiggling his shoulders with a small smile. That pesky knot was finally gone.

Bud and the judges then entered, explaining the rules. Kid nodded as they spoke, Danny having already clearly explained everything to him, making double sure he understood every stipulation, so he could be sure to avoid cheating, and recognize it if it happened. Then, Bud asked Kid if he wanted to skate first or defer. He deferred, no matter how badly he just wanted the whole thing to be over. With that, they were cleared to begin, and Kid watched Kristin skate away, terrified for a brief minute that Danny had already left him as well. But the man soon circled in front of him, taking his shoulders and locking eyes.

“Remember Kid, _it’s all real_. Win or lose tonight, you’ll _always_ be super, and you’ll _always_ be in the gang.”

Kid took a deep breath and smiled, nodding. Danny smiled and nodded, releasing the boy and skating to the edge, where he climbed over, surrounded immediately by Mac and Guy.

The challenger didn’t wait for the kid, and started the music. Honestly, Kid didn’t remember much. The Gator was either moving too quickly, or was pulling off moves that his brain simply couldn’t comprehend. He knew the other skater followed the rhythm of the music, and didn’t end up on his face or rear end like Kid would inevitably, but other than that, he didn’t remember much. He just knew it was amazing, and he, at some point, ended up on his rear end. No, the other skater didn’t touch him, but moving too close to the unstable boy had resulted in the painful stumble, and the Cool Patrol was on their feet before he even hit the floor, wildly protesting and calling foul. Brian, however, calmed the protests, confirming that no rules had been broken. Of course, while everyone reluctantly took their seats, Ninja Brian made a quick list of all of the Gator’s bones he’d like to see broken. Or possibly break himself.

Finally, it was his turn, and Kid tried to stand. The skate flew out from under him and he fell back, swearing when he landed right on his tailbone. He tried to crawl up again, and slipped again. Finally getting half way up, his skates went in opposite directions quite suddenly and he hit the floor, the air leaving his lungs.

On his back, glowing with humiliation and already sore, Kid wanted to just stay there. Maybe he could forfeit? Then he could get off the rink and out of these skates, forgetting the whole thing. Just pretend this never happened. He could never come back to the Moonlight Rollerway, though this was the only Friday evening attraction in town, and that would be the end of it. Find another dry cleaner, swear off ever going to the gym, and this whole crazy dream would be over.

But then, he felt the ground rumble as someone skated over. Fearing it was Danny, or another Cool Patrol member, his fellow members, he put an arm over his eyes, pretending he was anywhere but there. Whoever rolled over stopped, and didn’t say anything for a moment. Kid thought that maybe they left, but was too terrified to check. Then, the voice laughed.

“I was right! He’s crying like a baby!”

Then, a scream, and a smack, skin on skin, and a flurry of stumbling skates. Looking up, Kid saw Ninja Brian’s dark form standing over him, glaring the challenger further down the rink from where Brian had already pushed him. Stumbling as he scrambled to get away, the Gator landed on his face, scrambling back up and moving desperately and clumsily to the wall, tripping over his inexplicably knotted laces.

His work done, Brian turned to Kid, staring down at him with icy blue eyes. Those blue eyes, however, were not enraged, or betrayed. They glowed with challenge and power. Every fiber in the ninja’s being knew Kid could finish this, he just wanted to see him do it himself.

Kid’s own blue eyes crackled with electricity. Putting his hands on the floor on either side of his head, he rolled onto his shoulders, launching up onto his skates. The Cool Patrol went absolutely nuts, and Brian caught the boy before he fell again. Kid smiled up at him and Brian nodded, pounding the air with one fist, waiting for the boy to do the same, which he quickly did. They bumped the other’s chest with the fist twice, kissed their knuckles and flashed the peace sign. With a quick nod, Brian moved back to the judge’s table and Kid shook out his hands, ready to get this whole thing over and done with. He glanced at the Cool Patrol, who were glowing with pride, even from behind the sunglasses. Danny pumped the air and Kid smiled, redirecting his gaze dead ahead. Danny was right; he was in the Cool Patrol now, and they were his friends. Whether he won or lost this, whether he survived or broke his neck, he’d always be super, and they’d always have his back. Now, kicking up on the toe-brakes of the skates and steadying himself, and nodding to Bud to start the music, he just had to try to not break his neck.

Planting his hands on his hips and crossing his ankles, Kid rebalanced on his toes and aimed his eyes straight ahead, locking his sights on whatever stood there, which just happened to be small spot on the wall just above the other skater’s head.

Kid hoped he wouldn’t die.

Then, like a tidal wave of green seagrass and four leaf clovers, Irish Riverdance filled the space over the sound system. Immediately, Kid started kicking.

Outside the rink, Kristin and the Gators frowned.

“This isn’t skating music!”

“Silly, Kristin,” Danny called from down the rink, the Cool Patrol huddled around a nearby table, “there are no parameters for what music one can and cannot skate to.”

Standing, Kristin stalked to their table, fuming. “Well there is one little rule that says that the skater must _skate_ , and I don’t think standing on the brakes alone and not using the wheels counts.”

Right on cue, Kid broke formation and kicked off, willing himself to stay upright as he circled the other end of the rink, returning to his original position, but facing the opposite direction. He certainly didn’t want his back to his competitor, but this way he could see the Cool Patrol more clearly. With a smile that could scatter a hurricane, Danny sat forward, putting his elbows on his knees as he addressed Kristin.

“I suggest, Kristin, that if you have any more complaints about the conduct of my skater, Ninja, or anyone else in my gang, you should probably keep it to yourself. No one likes to see a cheater turn into a hypocrite as well.”

In the rink, Kid was not having a great time. The stops of the skates were not designed to be stood on, and if he wore himself out much more he was going to have two broken ankles. Heck, one of them was already starting to throb. Finishing one sequence of kicks, he pivoted on the wheels and repeated the short sequence. He did this each time, facing each direction. His first turn, he faced the Cool Patrol who watched him curiously and nervously, Danny nodding unconsciously in time with the music and kicking. Kid tried to offer them a small smile but was too focused to make a show of it. His next turn, he was facing his opponent, and pretended that the other skater wasn’t glaring at him. He turned the third time and faced the judge’s bench, where the grooving Bud and stoic Ninja Brian sat. He couldn’t tell for sure with his constant bouncing, but it looked to him like Ninja Brian was nodding. Nodding in approval maybe? Kid hoped so, he would need some of those healing oils if his ankles gave out. Turning again he faced the front of the building, his back exposed to his opponent and the rest of the Gators. He wished this cycle would end for more than one reason.

Finally, having completed the sequence, Kid skated in a few tight circles, kicking himself up into a stationary spin with his last amount of energy, and waited for his cue in the music to stop and strike the most confident of poses. That would show the Gators, the bullies, everyone! He’d prove to the Cool Patrol that he deserved to be among them! Then, the cue came, and Kid popped down the break, trying to stop himself. And just then, his ankle gave a hot snap, and he tumbled forward, landing on his face. The Cool Patrol was on their skates immediately, charging the rink. Kid kept his eyes closed until the world stopped spinning. His ankle burned and he curled into an exhausted ball, gripping it tightly. He could hear, and feel, the others rushing him, and knew full well that the music had ended with him on the ground, curled up like a sad, scared child.

“KID!” Danny called, gliding to a kneeling stop near the boy. “KID! Open your eyes, man! You ten-pound ham, are you alright?!”

Kid frowned when he heard Danny’s voice and opened his eyes, blinking up at the older man. The rim of Danny’s curly afro glowed under the lights, framing his face in a frizzy hallo. Kid smiled and uncoiled himself, offering his shaking hand to the leader. Taking it with a relieving smile, Danny and the others helped Kid sit up, who hissed suddenly, grabbing his ankle. Ninja Brian was then there, pushing his way to the center of the group. He cut apart the laces and flung the heavy skate away.

“Brian,” Danny groaned, “I’m gonna have to pay for that.”

Kid chuckled while Brian wrapped his ankle, tearing away the tube sock with a quick gentleness that only a ninja like himself could accomplish. Mac stood nearby and offered his hand to Kid, who took it.

“You did great, Kid!” He smiled. “Really great!”

“Yeah,” repeated Guy, who stood on Kid’s other side, “that was pretty cool. How did you know you could do that?”

Kid chuckled and shrugged. “Fake it ‘til you make it.”

The group laughed, straightening as Bud ran over. Danny threw an arm around the blond man’s shoulders.

“Give it to me, Bud. Is the Moonlight Rollerway ours again? Or is the Moonlight Rollerway ours again!”

Removing Danny’s arm, Bud squirmed. “Well, actually, no, it’s not.” Everyone voiced their disbelief in unison, Kid flinching at the sudden explosion of voices around him. Bud fidgeted again, the rule book in his hand. “Well, see, Kid didn’t technically finish the routine by the time the song ended. If he had gotten back up and struck the final pose, he would have totally won, but he didn’t.”

“But he got hurt,” Mac argued, motioning to the boy for emphasis.

Bud shrugged. “That’s what happens, you skate and sometimes you get hurt. You’ve still got to finish the routine.”

Danny tore his brown eyes away from Bud and swapped looks with Mac over his shoulder, then looked at Guy. Bud motioned to Kid, closing the book.

“I’m sorry Kid, those’re the rules.”

Kristin then skated over, followed rhythmically by her troop of Gators. “Well, Cool Patrol, it looks like you’re going to need a new hangout spot. Your poor little bacteria here couldn’t finish his routine. Guess that's what happens when you gamble on green.”

Danny huffed, jaw set, and was in front of the lady in one long stride, fists clenched at his side. “Firstly,” he growled down at the woman, a strength that reverberated through his entire height, which he was stretching to his full advantage, “that ‘little bacteria’ is hands-down the coolest member of the Cool Patrol _ever_! And the _only reason_ he’s got a sprained ankle right now is because he wasn’t using his super-powers to cheat, like some _other_ skaters in the room!”

The way Kristin’s face crinkled up at the accusation was something the Cool Patrol wished they could have framed. But Danny continued, undeterred. “Secondly, I’m calling your bluff, _Scarlet_! You knew you could _never_ beat the Cool Patrol head on! You knew you could _never_ out-boogie the boogiest people in this whole stinking town, and you knew, furthermore, that the _only way_ to rip domain of this palace out of our hands was to cheat like the red-letter-marked-Jezebel that you are.”

Kid watched as the Cool Patrol stepped around where he and Brian were on the floor and stood by Danny’s side in unison, hearing some unheard battle anthem. Brian didn’t stand, but watched the backs of his friends from where he squatted, twitching agitatedly. With a sigh, Kid offered his hand, motioning mutely for the ninja to grasp it, which he did. Brian pulled the boy to his feet with a smooth motion, Kid gripping the ninja’s broad shoulders to keep off his bad ankle. Together, they rounded around the group, standing proudly on the edge of the line, fully enclosing the Gators in their semi-circle of leather bound intimidation and totally unnecessary sunglasses. Kristin began to squirm visibly, eyes darting across the line.

“You cheated, Kristin, and I want to make sure that everyone in town, and everyone here, all knows it.” Lowering his voice, Danny rolled his shoulders back as he towered over the woman, their bodies nearly touching. “I want that reputation to follow you around where ever you go like a shadow. I want it stamped on your forehead, on your clothes, on everything you touch. I want it marked on you a scarlet letter. When people say your name, so long as you crawl on this planet, in this life or the next, I want ‘cheater’ to be the next word they breath, the next thing they think. I want them to be _repulsed_ at the mention of your name, at the mere _thought_ of you, because ‘cheater’ and ‘Kristin’ have become synonymous, so closely related that they can’t exist without the other. I want that to be who you are, who you have become, _forever_.”

“Your sexbang,” Kid breathed to himself.

“Exactly,” Danny confirmed, stepping away backwards, leveling Kristin with his glare. “So, _Kristin-cheater_ , unless you’ve got some clever way to cheat your way out of this one, or some more lies to weave, I suggest you accept the Graces of Dance, and hand the Moonlight Rollerway back to its proper caretakers. That would be us, in case you were wondering.”

Kristin’s blood boiled, and she looked like she was ready for a fight. Kid felt Ninja Brian tense, the other members doing the same. The Gators fanned out behind their leader, meeting the Cool Patrol’s frontline man for man. The thought made Kid squirm. He didn’t want to fight. He’d been in the middle of enough fights by now to lose taste for it.

“You want me gone?” she asked, stepping back up to Danny and stretching to him, brushing his lips with her teeth. “Are you sure you really want to kick us _all_ out? Forever? Is that _really_ what you want?”

Danny wavered, swaying into her touch, lips not quiet touching and not quite backing away. A shudder shook his body and his hands trembled, rubbing little circles in his own palms. Finally, after taking a long breath of her scent, Danny opened his eyes, staring down at the woman who had, inexplicably and completely, stolen his heart.

“Get out,” he moaned, power drained from his voice. Ninja Brian left Kid and moved forward, taking Danny’s arm in his grasp, pulling the man away. As he turned, Kristin raised a hand to slap him again, but Danny caught it, brown eyes blazing as he turned his glare up at her pretty, reddening face.

“Don’t you _ever_ come back.”

With that, he tossed the arm back at her like it’s touch disgusted him, and walked back to the group, standing in line, crossing his arms and raising his chin.

Kid almost felt his heart break for the man. “Fake it til you make it,” he could almost hear the heart-broken man repeat to himself as he glared his ex-lover down.

Kristin glared at him for a moment, then lowered her eyes and shoved between Danny and Mac. The Gator members followed one by one, Gus leaving lastly. The Cool Patrol watched them kick off their skates and throw them behind the counter, heading for the front door.

“Just a minute,” Danny called, and Kid felt Brian flinch, eager to chase after his comrade before he did something stupid. When Danny was high as a kite on his own rush of emotions, he had the tendency to do just that. How did people think the whole grudge between him and the Manticore started? It wasn’t like pretty ladies didn’t exist back a millennia ago. The long-legged man caught up with the group quickly, unhindered by his skates on the grimy carpet. “Let me see the two of you, please…” Sticking his hands into the sea of fake alligator skin, Danny pulled two figures from the mass, hauling Kid’s bullies back to him. He stopped at the entrance to the rink and presented the catches to his friends. “Hey Kid, you want I should do something with these bozos?”

All eyes turned on the boy, including Brian’s. Kid felt their weight and tried to ignore them, keeping his eyes on the two bullies that hung before him like meat slabs, Danny’s brown eyes watching him weightlessly. There was no judgement in those eyes, no anger. Just patience. Smiling, Kid hollered back.

“Yeah! Kick ‘em to the curb!” The Cool Patrol erupted in cheers beside Kid as he swung a leg at the bullies, and he flinched, Guy, Mac, and Bud all circling him, patting his shoulders and congratulating him. Even Ninja Brian had adjusted his grip and taken firm hold of Kid’s shoulder with a reassuring squeeze.

“Rock on!” Danny cried, sticking his tongue out like a true Rockstar, his hips bucking under him. Turning, he tossed the bullies to the sticky carpet, swinging one long leg at them. “You heard the man! The Duke of Dance has spoken! Get outta here, and don’t let me every catch you bothering this place again!” The Cool Patrol picked their cheers back up, cheering loudly as the Gators filed out of their palace, disappearing into the night. Kid watched as Danny watched after them for a moment, the turmoil rippling through his frame as he let out a long sigh. Finally, he tore himself away and skated back over, the three leather-bound goons greeting him, getting their arms around him and patting him with a happy flurry of congratulations. Danny dropped his head and giggled, putting his hands up in surrender to the praises. “Really,” he looked up at Kid, the group quieting when their leader spoke, “it was our new Duke’s doing. Kid of Midburn…” Kid frowned as Danny slid onto one knee, head bowed low and arms folded across his chest, the members behind him doing the same, “Lord of Leaping, Instigator of Irish jigs, I humbly implore your grace to bless this establishment and all who enter, and to grant your forgiving word and kind will to those who kneel before you. May we forever be considered friends and allies to your greatness, and this place, your Good Palace, Sir Duke Sexbang, Kid of Midburn.”

Kid blinked rapidly, trying desperately to hide the tears pooling in his eyes. It had been a long, very strange day. His legs burned and felt like rubber under him, his ankle was twisted and throbbed dully, and he still ached from his earlier tumble, as well as the fight with the bullies that had kind of started this whole thing, but now, if someone asked, he would have said he felt ten feet tall. Ninja Brian gave him a gentle shake, jarring the boy out of his thoughts. He smiled up at the ninja and straightened the best he could while under the man’s grip. “It is granted.”

Danny’s arms fell to the floor, the three men behind him standing quickly with cheers. Danny smiled up at the kid underneath his curly afro, and stood, following the others to flock around the boy. Kid wasn’t sure if he charged forward, or if Ninja Brian pushed him, but the next thing he knew, his arms were around the tall, magical man, wrapped fully around Danny’s middle. Danny blinked, and looked up at Ninja Brian. When Kid realized the man wasn’t returning the embrace, he quickly pushed himself backwards, cheeks flushed.

“I’m sorry,” he stammered, “I didn't mean to. It's just, uh, it’s been a long day.”

Danny put one hand on Kid’s shoulder. “It’s okay, my Duke. It is fair to say you simply caught me off guard.” Kid smiled up at Danny, whose own grin widened at the sight. “Attaboy,” he teased, ruffling Kid’s green curls.

“So, what do you say we all head home and fill our gullets with nachos and root beer?” Mac suggested, rubbing his hands together.

“Long as it’s not pizza,” Bud crossed his arms over his skinny chest, “I’ve had enough of those in my life to last for the _rest_ of my life.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Danny frowned, turning back to the group while Ninja Brian steadied Kid on his compromised ankles. “It’s the middle of the night. This place opens at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning, and you expect us to invite the rest of the gang back to the Moonlight Rollerway when it looks like this?”

“’Rest of the gang’?” Kid repeated with a frown. Danny twisted around, facing him.

“Oh yeah. You think the Cool patrol is just five – six members? Who do you think fills the place up every night?”

Kid chuckled while Danny turned back to the group, dividing up the chores. It had been made increasingly obvious to the high schooler these last few days that he really had no idea who these people, who this gang, really was. A Ninja? A man who had been blessed by his father with some kind of magical singing and dancing powers? A father who could just take those abilities away with a word? A work-out buff who spent his spare time scaring the crap out of bullies? A dry-cleaner who was one of the kindest people he knew? A waiter who had the mind of a lawyer?

Kid rubbed his face after Brian set him down comfortably at a booth, propping up his bandaged ankle. Who was he in this crazy mix? A high schooler who would rather spend his school nights at a roller rink with this gang of weirdos instead of literally anywhere else in this crummy little town? A high schooler who could also throw cars, punch holes in walls and fly, but that was beside the point. While he watched the others work at cleaning up their beloved roller rink, leather jackets piled beside him and sunglasses folded in a clump on the table, signifying that Kid was their protection, he smiled.

His mom had told him when they moved to Midburn that he was not, under any circumstances, to go run off like any other crazy high schooler would and get involved with a gang, and Midburn had plenty of them to choose from. And unfortunately, Danny’s brown eyes, Brian’s protective shoulder, Guy’s floofy hair, Mac’s soft smile, and Bud’s rhythmic feet had gotten him to do just that.

Sorry Mom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It really pains me to end this fic. "The Most Lamentable" isn't the best fic out there, it's not even a very strong story, but it was such a joy to write, and to see the reaction among this small community. NSP and the Cool Patrol, are such wonderful muses for me, and this AU is right up my creative alley. I'm madly in love with all the characters I've been able to expand upon, their universe, and the new doors this fic has oepned. It's very sad to see "The Most Lamentable" end.
> 
> But, as "up my creative alley" as this AU is, try as I might when it comes to any sequels, there is a charm in "The Most Lamentable" that just came together so well, it's proven almost impossible to replicate. Sure, it's a reused plot-line, but this story had magic for me, as a creator, and I'm thrilled that so many of you have gotten a taste of this magic yourself. I simply can't give up on any sequels, and really, I haven't. I've written several that I can't seem to finish. With "The Most Lamentable" I started with the ending, something I don't normally do, and worked backwards. It's a process that seems to have been a "once in a lifetime" shot for me.
> 
> Never fear, though! I refuse to be beaten. The Cool Patrol will ride again!
> 
> Until then, thank you so much for reading, I love you all, and I wish you all the best.  
> \- Becca


End file.
